Dat Be Stupid, Mon
by FallenKitsunee
Summary: Keina Dawningstar was just out doing some small quest (she had honestly forgotton what it was, but she'll never admit it.) Vojjin, a rather handomse troll rogue captures Keina, he grows curious with the elf. Things develop. Keina is stuck in the middle of the Alliance in the Horde, where does her allegience lie? Who does her heart belong to? Is she betraying her people?
1. Captured

Haha my first try at WoW fan-fiction, I've been playing the game for awhile xD And I finally decided to try writing something. The main reason I play the game ( the online version ) is because of the lore, it's all so fascinating, ya know? And...I like trolls. Trolls are nice. Yes I know v.v I'm horrible at writing a troll, dun judge.

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Keina really did not like deserts.

The sand was blistering around and under her paws. The desert itself was far too open, and there were scorpions everywhere. She honestly wondered why she accepted this mission. She would much rather be in Darnassus just avoiding the attentions of a disturbing human diplomat. Dway Proudmoore was a pest of a paladin. She should have let Asirani curse him, mind flay him or something…

While she had been in Darnassus, avoiding Dway, telling Asirani that she couldn't just go around cursing people, her old teacher, Dalnaar, had come to her with a mission. She was at first ecstatic to get away from the paladin, so of course she had accepted. Dalnaar had taught her the ways of a druid, and he had told her that she had been his finest student. She was positive she could do this. It's not like she hadn't accepted missions before…she had. She had even gone to the Outlands.

So she had thought Tanaris would be easy, easier than going to Northrend to face the Lich King's minions.

No, she really thought she'd prefer the Lich Kings minions at the moment as she avoided another disturbing pile of something unidentified.

Keina Dawningstar was honestly regretting her decision. She should have at least let Asirani come with her; the crazy human shadow priest would have been a balm on her soul. Asirani always managed to make everything better. She sighed, and flexed her claws into the soft blistering sand beneath her.

What had been her mission in the first place?

She could vaguely remember something about a troll, and that was about all she could remember.

She let out a disgruntled rumble, just about as vocal as she ever got in cat form aside from the roar she let out when clawing people to death, but that was a different matter. Keina was positive she wasn't going to win this battle against the sun. Her fur felt as if it were on fire, she didn't have dark fur that blended in with the night, no, Keina had light fur, so light that it was almost the color of moonlight. Asirani still couldn't figure out how Keina managed to stealth all the time and not get noticed.

The disgruntled night elf trudged through the sand for a few more moments before one of her ears twitched at the sound of laughter. Laughter meant people. People meant water.

It was something she was definitely interested in checking out.

She slid down the hill that was in front of her, not caring that the sand was leaving a definite trail that someone or (in her case) something had recently been there. Keina still didn't know who the camps inhabitants were, so it wouldn't be wise of her to give herself away.

At this point in time though, Keina didn't care, she was focused on the possible water in the camp, yes she was stupid in her packing, and if there was ever a next time she'd probably try to be more careful.

Laughter seemed to surround her as she crept closer to the camp, her paws treading carefully over the sand, avoiding any twigs, leaves, holes with possible scorpions in them, anything that would make a sound. She looked in surprise at the people sitting around a fire in the camp. There was large, mean looking orc, his skin tone almost like those of the orcs in Outland. It wasn't the fact that he was an orc that made her wary of him; it was the vibe he gave off. She had the feeling that he enjoyed killing, more than enjoyed it.

_Craved_ it.

Her gaze moved onto the next inhabitant, it was a large male tauren with a peaceful look about him. His size was the most overwhelming thing about him. She liked the way the firelight played off his black fur, the flames seeming to dance across him, highlighting his face so she could study it.

Most of the Alliance referred to them as cows, Keina didn't agree with most of the Alliance, she thought most humans were too cocky, too stuck on the achievement they could get, the rewards. They never stopped to consider that both sides of the war had living beings.

Why should such a thing as someone's faction matter?

Keina tilted her head slightly, she did have to admit that the tauren had great horns, they were thick, and the same color as his fur. From the pair of large maces lying next to the large tauren she figured he was shaman. She looked over the rest of the camp, noting that their mounts were nowhere to be seen, the small fact disappointed Keina, she had wanted to see a Kodo and a Worg. She was tired of most of the alliance mounts.

Besides her Issa, Issa was an adorable fluffy saber with an attitude problem. Said saber had run off on her awhile back. It was a bad habit of Issa's.

She was shocked out of her thoughts as she took in a bundle of blankets that were arranged in such a way that someone had to have been sitting on them.

Where was the blankets previous occupant?

As if fate was answering her question, she was suddenly pushed down; a large hand was holding the scruff of her neck while another one was wrapping a piece of leather around her snout, a makeshift muzzle. Instantly she tried to twist her body around so she could sink her claws into the attackers flesh, but whoever it was had planned this beforehand. Her attacker was now holding her in such a way that she couldn't twist around, not one bit.

She was a cat, a big cat that probably weighed almost two-hundred pounds, it was no easy feat to be able to pin her, though normally she was well hydrated and not having to listen to her stomach rumble for at least an hour.

"Dat dere would be a stupid ding ta do, druid." The attackers voice was low, and deep. Keina could feel the rumble of it from the way the troll was pinning her down. She was surprised that her attacker was speaking in common, the language of the humans.

She had been caught by a troll.

Keina grumbled, but gave up the fight, seeing no way she was going to get out this. The troll hauled her up, having tied her hind legs and her front legs together at some point and carried her into the camp. She now officially felt like some sort of livestock. Her captor strolled into the camp and set her down next to his empty seat, before settling down himself.

The tauren turned his dark gaze on her and said something in orcish to the troll, the troll shrugged and answered, a grin on his face. Keina took this chance to study his features. The troll as a sharp, angular face like most of his race did, but…he was handsome. His tusks were long and thick and stuck out from his face, looking deadly, and rather impressive. If she ever wanted to be face to face with him (and up close) those tusks would be on either side of her neck, acting like a cage. His skin tone was a mix between a purple and a blue, but it was light. His hair was swept back from his face and one thick, long braid, his hair color was red.

The color fascinated her, and she wondered if his eyes turned the same shade of red when experiencing bloodlust. The troll turned his gaze to her, his amber eyes boring into her own silver ones. Her eyes were an odd color for a druid. Normally one blessed with the druidic talents had amber eyes, a rare color among the night elves, but hers were the average, common silver of her kind.

The troll moved closer to her and motioned towards the tauren. "Malar be askin' if ya would switch back ta your natural state, he also be sayin' he will not hurt da little elf." She found it funny how he switched from referring to her as "ya" and then to "little elf" she really did love his voice. She nodded, and made a grumble of discomfort as her bones cracked and rearranged themselves in that of her natural form. She sighed as the long waves of her white hair fell across her face, obscuring her view of the three members of the Horde in front of her. The way she was tied was rather uncomfortable now, the ropes on her wrists that bound them to her feet seemed to dig into the leather of her bracers which in turn caused the bracers dig into her skin.

She picked up movement and was surprised to feel the troll grab her once again and haul her to her feet. "Don't ya run now, mon." The troll grumbled as he yanked at the bindings holding her wrists to her feet. She could have taken that chance to throw him off balance and make a run for it, but she was curious. (she would never, ever admit this out loud.) She was curious about this huge, handsome, troll. She didn't know why she was attracted to him, but she was, and she wanted to know more about him. She didn't fight him as he re-tied her wrists behind her back.

She tilted her head back, her hair falling across her shoulder and down her back, and stared at the troll. "What's your name?" She asked. Her voice was hoarse from disuse, and her throat was dry from lack of water.

The trolls lips twisted into an amused smirk. "I be takin' ya captive, 'nd ya be wantin' ta know mah name?" He shoulders rolled back and shook with the laughter that erupted from him. "Ya be one funneh elf, mon!" His laughing died down and he shook his head, his large tusks barely missing her face. "Mah name be Vojjin, what be yours, elf?"

Vojjin.

It was a nice name, and she was tempted to repeat it aloud. She wanted to feel his name on her lips. She quickly squashed the urge, that so wouldn't help her situation right now. She highly doubted that this rogue would be willing to believe that she wouldn't run, or that she was willing to be friends…

And she was, as confusing as it was for her.

She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound normal again. "Keina, my name is Keina Dawningstar." Her voice was still hoarse, but not as hoarse as before. Vojjin quirked his head to the side, his tusks barely missing her again, she swore he was doing that on purpose, he stood up from the crouch he had moved into earlier.

His height amaze her, when standing straight he had to be over seven feet.

"Ya better be getting' ta sleep, elf, ya be needin' it." That was all Vojjin said before settling himself down, his gaze directed to the fire. She wondered if he would be sleeping. Probably not.

Keina's eyelids felt heavy and she decided sleeping wasn't such a bad idea. She laid down, curling in on herself. She scooted a bit closer to the troll, she figured she was safer near him than the orc that had been staring at her murderously since she had been dragged into the camp. (she would never admit that she just wanted Vojjin's heat) Soon she found her mind going silent and her consciousness going dark.

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Ya wanna know what's sad? This is by far the longest thing I've written in awhile o-o This...was just an idea I rolled with. xD I have like...nothing planned out, I just had characters I wanted to use. xD Review! I like the reviews. XD Don't judge xD I know, I suck at this.


	2. Issa

Not as long as the previous update...but hey at least it's an update xD I'm getting better at troll speech too! :D

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Keina stared down at the mysterious glob of food in front of her. "What the hell is this?" she muttered. The orc had done the cooking. The tauren was on watch duty, and Vojjin was out doing something she couldn't remember. She was sure that if the troll had been here she wouldn't be staring at this…slop. She was hungry enough to eat it, but she was pretty damn sure the orc had poisoned it.

She had gathered that from the simple fact that he had given her food. It was quite obvious the orc wanted her dead from the glances he shot at her every few seconds.

Keina was starting to dislike her curiosity; she decided she would never pass up a chance to escape again. (Well as long as Vojjin wasn't around, if the troll was around…she'd probably stay. It made no sense to her.) She moved the unidentifiable food away from her with her foot. She wasn't going to eat she had no desire to die yet.

The orc shot her a nasty glance and motioned to the food in front of her before saying something in orcish. She wasn't able to understand what he was saying, but she got the gist of it. She shook her head no, she wasn't going to eat it. The orc growled and made his way toward her, she tried to scoot away, but it was impossible. She had been tied to a wooden post that had been hammered into the ground sometime during her sleep. She'd admit that she was more comfortable now, but it still confused her how Vojjin had managed to tie her to a post, while she was sleeping, and she hadn't even noticed.

A strand of orcish was shot off from behind her and the orc backed off, a part of her was relieved to see it was Vojjin as he stepped into the camp, another part of her was disgusted she hadn't been able to get the orc to back off on her own.

Vojjin said something else in orcish before squatting in front of her. "Why haven't ya eaten da food?" he asked, his amber gaze boring into her own.

She really would like to ask him how he knew common, must be a fascinating story. "I'm entirely sure it's poisoned."

The troll's lips twitched into a grin, his amusement quite obvious on his face. "Ol' Vojjin be da only one wit' da poison, 'nd I not be wantin' ya dead yet." He motioned towards the food. "Eat."

She quirked an eyebrow at him and yanked at her bindings. "And how am I supposed to eat with my hands bound? I hope you don't expect me to use my feet." She stared at her feet for a few moments, actually contemplating the idea. It wouldn't work, she wasn't that flexible.

Vojjin laughed, his head thrown back, and his entire body shaking from it. "Dat would be quite a sight, but no." He moved behind her , before he cut her bindings, he took some rope from his pack and wrapped one end of it around her waist and then tying it into a knot. He took the other end and tied it around his own waist and tied that too. He gave the rope a hard yank, making sure both ends were tight and not going to come undone easily.

Ah.

She got what he was doing, she wouldn't be able to escape unless she managed to cut the rope, and if she somehow managed to cut the rope she highly doubted her chances of getting away from him. He was fast, and he was a rogue. Keina never really liked rogues. Mainly because they're so unpredictable.

Vojjin motioned towards the food once again. "Eat."

She frowned at the food, almost expecting it to come alive and eat her, but she was hungry enough to push down her doubts and not argue. She didn't even grimace as she dug into the food. It actually wasn't that bad. She had finished it in no time, and even licked her fingers clean. She turned her gaze to Vojjin. "Could you tell him that it wasn't that bad and I'm sorry about earlier."

Vojjin nodded, amusement still dancing in his eyes, he spoke to the orc in orcish, and she hoped he was relaying her message. She gathered that he had from the satisfied grunt the orc gave when he looked at her.

Vojjin grinned and shrugged. "Dats da most ya will ever get out of Cogar when it comes ta da compliments, he be verreh shy."

She definitely hadn't pegged the orc as shy, but then again her character judgement wasn't the best. She had yet to be right when it had come to judging people…yet she still did it anyway. She turned her attention back to Vojjin. "So where are we going?"

The troll cocked his head to the side. "Well, Cogar be goin' back ta Orgrimmar, Malar be catchin' da zeppelin back ta Thunderbluff, and we be goin' ta Stranglethorn."

She blinked. Not quite processing his words. She had expected him to hand her over to the Warchief, but apparently he was keeping her. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. And why were they going to Stranglethorn instead of Sen'jin village? He was a Darkspear troll, was he not? But who was she to ask questions, her knowledge was next to nothing when it came to Trolls. The night elves hardly spoke of them, and what she did know came from the soldiers in Stormwind, but most of what they said was a load of bullshit. If any one of those soldiers in Stormwind caught a troll, they would parade the troll around as a prize, they wouldn't stop to consider the Troll as a living being, most of those soldiers considered them as stupid as livestock.

She decided she was better off not questioning. "Uhm, if we're going to Stranglethorn, I'll need Issa." She really would need that crazy saber.

Vojjin stared at her, waiting for her to continue. She mentally slapped herself for expecting him to know who Issa was. "Issa is my Mistsaber, she ran off a few days ago…it's a bad habit of hers."

"Ah." The troll said and then he grinned. "We'll find da saber on Aenyo."

She didn't quite know what Aenyo was, but she was willing to bet that Aenyo was his raptor. Vojjin stood up, and wrapped the length of the rope between them around his wrist until she was forced to stand up and take a step closer to him. "We'll go look for da saber now."

This troll kept surprising her, she honestly didn't expect him to look for Issa. Vojjin tugged on the rope making her follow behind him. "We headin' to Aenyo now." He said, making sure she knew.

Keina wasn't quite sure what to think, she was starting to believe she had a soft spot for this troll. The entire thing was confusing, but she really didn't want to think on it. Her mouth opened in surprise as a large orange raptor came into view. The beat tilted its head slightly, teal eyes peering into her own. Vojjin grinned at the beast and patted its flank. "Aenyo is a good raptor, he won't hurt da elf."

As if understanding what was going on the raptor chattered happily and nudged Vojjin, still eyeing Keina. She couldn't help but smile at the beast, and stepped closer, hesitantly laying her hand on the raptors neck. She was in awe at the smoothness of the scales, and she grinned as she started petting the raptor. "I like him." She said to Vojjin. Aenyo chattered again and this time nudged Keina with his head.

Silly raptor.

Vojjin pulled himself up onto Aenyo first, and then held his hand out to Keina. She let him pull her up and settle her in-between his thighs. She squirmed a little, trying to get more comfortable, she noticed that Vojjin had wrapped the rope around his wrist again, making it so there was no slack in the rope. "Are you sure you'll be able to control him with that wrapped around your wrist?"

She saw the flash of suspicion In his eyes, but the troll let an easy grin slip onto his face. "Ol' Vojjin be fine, mon. Dis troll ben on Aenyo wit' much worse."

Vojjin started the raptor forward and Keina immediately clenched her thighs to stay on Aenyo. She didn't expect a raptor to be so…bumpy. Hm, no that wasn't the word she wanted. Unsteady, maybe? She gave up on finding the right word and focused on the environment looking for any sign of her mistsaber. She didn't know how long they had been out there but soon Vojjin slowed Aenyo down to a walk. Keina frowned, how could Issa be no where?

She felt the troll sigh behind her, and she noticed he started to turn Aenyo around. "I'm sorry Keina, but da saber seem ta be nowhere." He did sound sorry.

She blamed herself for it. She had always let Issa do what she wished, and Issa had always come back. Yet…this time was different. A pang of loss shot through her heart. This wasn't the loss of just any saber, this was the loss of her life long companion. Issa had been with her for years upon years.

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Reviewww :D


	3. Deserts

Sorry for the delay xD I was busy with school work, annnnd actually playing WoW with my friend Aaron, which doesn't happen often, and when it does we really don't lvl xD it's a bunch of bs being said and funny moments. *cough* Anywho, on with the story!

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Keina was never going to get used to the uneven gait of a raptor. She was still hanging on for dear life. She missed Issa, and she wasn't as torn up over it as she would have been if she actually believed Issa was lost to her. She still believed the saber was out there somewhere. She wrinkled her nose as she sniffed the air. From sitting between a trolls thighs for over an hour she was starting to smell like troll sweat. Not that she smelled so pretty herself, but still.

"We'll be stoppin' soon, an' ya can clean up when we do." Vojjin said from behind her on his place in the saddle.

"Oh? That will be nice." She glanced at the rope that still bound her to him. "I hope you're not planning on staying with me for that."

He never answered her in Common; all he did was pat Aenyo's neck and say something in Zandali.

Trolls.

Always amused by something and always able to get under someone's skin. She turned her mind away from her mental complaints and took in the two companions of Vojjin's. Cogar was walking along his worgs side. For some reason he had named his worg Mutton. She didn't dare ask how Cogar had come about naming him Mutton. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to know that story. Mutton was a large red worg; Cogar wasn't riding him because of the heat. The only way the poor thing could cool down was by panting, and the group stopped every now and then to make sure Mutton got enough water.

Malar was riding his white kodo (she didn't know its name) and seemed to not be bothered by the heat at all. She wondered how the heat didn't manage to bug him. The tauren was covered in fur, black fur, and black absorbs heat, so how was he not dead? She seriously didn't understand how he managed; she wanted to know his secret, because there had to be a secret.

She groaned and leaned back against Vojjin's chest, not caring about the fact that he was Horde, or that she barely knew him. He was comfy, and it took too much energy to sit upright on her own. It was too hot to care about such things. Tanaris was blistering hot. She knew it would be much hotter when they reached the Shimmering Flats, and even if they went the other way to Ungoro, it would still be hot. She missed the cool weather of Darnassus.

Keina never thought she would hear herself think those words. She didn't like Darnassus, she appreciated its beauty. She just wasn't…much of a nature lover. She appreciated it, she understands what it did, and she just wasn't in love with it. This was funny coming from a druid.

She felt the rumble of Vojjin's laugh before he said something in Orcish. It was obviously about the fact that she was using him as a back rest, or maybe she was just imagining things. Cogar shot something back at Vojjin, his voice clearly amused, and Malar only laughed.

She really needed to learn Orcish. It was pretty sad for a night elf to know only Darnassian and Common. After all the years she had been alive it would be logical for her to at least know Orcish.

But no.

She had had no such desire when she had the opportunity to learn it. The only language she would have a chance at understanding was Thalassian, but that's only because it was so similar to Darnassian, or maybe it would just confuse her. Oh well.

She tilted her head back trying to get a look at Vojjin's face. "I know you're a rogue, and Malar is a shaman, but what is Cogar?" she asked. It wasn't something she had wondered about until now, but being in the middle of nowhere, pressed against a troll, and dying from the heat makes a person wonder.

"Warrior." Vojjin said "He be a verrah good warrior."

She really did love the way he spoke. "Ah." She said, "That explains some things." It really did, explained the vibe she got off him the first time she saw him, Keina was rather happy she was at least…somewhat right on her judgment. (Even if she wasn't she'd never admit it because of her pride.) She lifted a hand and shielded her eyes as she gazed at the sky. It wasn't quite mid-morning yet, lovely. Just. Lovely.

At the moment she decided to declare the sun as her biggest enemy.

A large hand covered her eyes, block her view of her greatest enemy. "Quit lookin' at da sun like it be your foe." Vojjin said.

Who uses the word foe anymore? She wondered. Keina frowned but made no move to remove his hand from her eyes, rather liking the blockage from the sun. "But it's my greatest enemy!" She halfheartedly tried; she said it mainly to start conversation.

Vojjin made a slight sound of disbelief before bursting out in laughter. Keina was becoming too accustomed to troll laughter, it no longer fazed her, and she rather liked the sound of it. Liking troll laughter was another thing that shall be added to the list of things she'll never admit.

After he had stopped laughing Vojjin turned in his saddle and shouted something in orcish to Cogar. The orc in turn turned his head to look at them, seeming to assess the situation before nodding. Keina was confused as all three them directed their mounts towards the right (Cogar was an exception, Mutton seemed to be leading the way.)

"Why are we turning?" She asked, her confusion clear in her voice, she lifted a hand and pointed in the direction they were supposed to be going. "The way out is in that direction." She didn't want to stay in this desert any longer than she had to.

Vojjin chuckled. "Well, it seems da elf has lost her mind."

She huffed. "Lost my mind? Bah!"

Cogar said something in orcish, his voice sounding amused. She tilted her head back to watch the expression on Vojjin's face (she had removed his hand a few moments before) the troll grinned before translating, his amber gaze fixed on terrain in front of him. "Cogar said da elf has had ta much sun."

She was getting rather sick of being referred to as "da elf" but she would put up with it for a while longer, it was better than being referred to as "alliance scum". She was starting to agree with the two that she had experienced too much sun. Some adventurer she was, she had been in Outland, and even Northrend, and yet here she was not being able to handle one simple little desert…that never seemed to end. A cave came into view as they neared one of the many random masses of hills and rocks among the desert, she would call them mountains, but they weren't big enough, they were more like hills…just big hills.

Oh, a cave.

How'd they know the cave was there? She berated herself instantly for the questions; they had obviously been here longer than her, so they had probably stayed in it on their way in…or something. It was honestly too much thinking for Keina at the moment so she didn't bother. Vojjin came to a stop outside of the cave, Cogar was already inside along with Mutton, the worg was small enough to not take up much room in the cave, whereas Malar's kodo had to stay outside, and Aenyo would take up too much room. Vojjin hopped out of the saddle and basically picked Keina up and cradled her in his arms.

Keina couldn't help but glare at him. "I do have legs. And I assure you that they work." A part of her didn't mind the fact that he was holding her, but the biggest majority of her hated feeling useless, so in end, she did mind.

Vojjin sighed and set her down. "Whatevah ya say, elf." He went about taking the saddle off of Aenyo and preparing the raptor for the night. Just thinking of the arriving darkness had her tilt her head back and look at the sky, the sun was already going down, had it really been that long? She swore it was morning a few minutes ago, but she was never very good at keeping track of time when she was distracted. Keina could stray too far because of the rope still attaching the two together, she felt stupid just standing there and watching him.

"Do you need help?" She asked, she bit her lower lip and decided to rephrase it, she didn't want him to think that she was berating him. "Or rather…is there anything I can do?"

Vojjin looked at her from over his shoulder, the edges of his lips quirking up in a smile. "Nah, elf, ol' Vojjin be fine."

Keina sighed and looked around, the sun was dropping fast and so was the temperature, which was another thing she hated about deserts, the temperature always dropped at night, it could go from hot in the day to freezing at night. She involuntarily shivered, all her heavier armor, warmer blankets, food, and all the other stuff she had pack was distributed in several bags that were currently attached to Issa's saddle, and Issa was…hopefully alive somewhere out there.

Her mood soured just thinking of the mistsaber, she had had Issa as far back as she could remember. From the time she was a youngling and just barely starting out on her adventures, failing them, and then deciding to learn her craft, Issa had always been there.

Almost as if he knew her thoughts Vojjin pitched a blanket at her, the shock of something flying straight for her face shocked her from her thoughts and she struggled to catch the blanket, her fingers desperately grabbing at the rough wool to save it from hitting the ground.

"Ya will be needin' that for tonight, an' dun worry 'bout da saber, 'm sure she will be fine." Vojjin said, he shot her once last glance before walking into the cave, the rope binding them together forcing her to follow. Just how the hell did that troll know her thoughts?

It was scary.

Keina gratefully settled down once she was in the cave, she curled into the wool blanket almost instantly.

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Well, I still have no plot, I just a small idea of what i want to do with this as of now. xD Thank you for reading :D Now review!


	4. Bridges

Well, I always have swearing in my stories, but I'd figured I'd at least tell you people now. xD This is the longest chapter i've written so far! :D Aren't you guys so proud of me?

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Mmm…something is nice and warm, Keina thought. She let out a satisfied sigh and snuggled more into the warmth. Except there was nothing to snuggle. Her leg was haphazardly thrown over something that wasn't soft –not uncomfortable—just wasn't soft. She slid her hand form its place on her hip and onto the not-snuggly thing. Her hand met smooth, firm flesh.

Shit.

Keina cracked her eyes open to see what trouble she had gotten herself into now. Her leg was draped over Vojjin's waist, her hand was on his stomach and she frowned when she noticed he had no shirt on. When had he ditched the shirt?

That left her with the question of pants. And that was honestly something she didn't want to find out. Her traitorous eyes dipped to the area where pants were supposed to be. A wool blanket covered him from the waist down.

How disapoin—no! Bad thoughts!

Even while she was convincing herself to look away, to not be curious about what was under the blanket, her eyes were drinking him in. Vojjin was toned, not overly muscled, but just the right amount. He bore a lot of scars, one of them started at his naval and headed up towards his right pectoral. She was tempted to trace it, but quickly squashed the thought down, that was too intimate, and she didn't know him.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself not look, Keina after all was female, and she really did enjoy the view. Clearing her throat in one last attempt to draw her thoughts away from the view, she set to the task of untangling herself from him. She was glad to find that the rope that had been binding the two together had been removed.

About fifteen minutes later Keina was sitting by a burnt out fire, clothes rumpled, and in a sour mood. A few times she swore the troll had been awake, because wherever she would try to place her foot or her hand the damn rogue would roll into its path. If it weren't for his slow rhythmic breathing she would've thought he was awake.

Damn troll.

Keina was the only one awake. Cogar was somewhere under the giant red ball of fur that was Mutton, Malar was quite obviously asleep, same with Vojjin. Keina looked over at the sleeping troll; she was seriously considering getting rid of his tusks. The damn things were near impossible to get away from. Vojjin let out a sleepy groan and rolled over, his already disheveled long red hair becoming even more so as it slipped further from the restraints of the braid. For a rogue he wasn't very aware of what happened when he was asleep, it was surprising. Keina grinned to herself, still loving the fact that she wasn't bound to him.

This was her chance to escape.

Vojjin had obviously trusted her not to run away when he had removed the rope. If she felt threatened by them then she would have taken the chance. Yet, because the troll trusted her enough to let her off that damnable rope (seriously it was horrid, try going to the bathroom with a troll attached to you. Awkward.) The least she could do was trust him back, if only a little bit, so she did.

The morning passed by in a rather progressive way, Keina didn't know how long she was sitting in front of a long burnt out fire before someone woke. Malar was the first to wake up, the huge tauren had shot a glance at her and the lack of the troll attached to her by rope, he shook his head in distain when his attention turned to the two that were still sleeping. The between Keina and Malar wasn't awkward, it was peaceful, even if it was awkward she would still be insanely absorbed in what Malar had started doing after he had settled himself down. The tauren had pulled out pieces of bone from the leather satchel tied to his waist and was now carving them.

Malar motioned her over and without even hesitating she moved over to him. He held the piece of partially carved bone out to her, offering her the carving knife as well. She shook her head quickly. "I'll mess it up; the only thing I'm good with is herbs."

A glint in the black depths of his eyes made her feel as if Malar understood her. "You understand Common, don't you?" She asked, not really expecting a reply.

The glint was still there, just more of an amused glint now. He definitely understood her. "I see how this is going be." Feeling like being rash and experiencing new things she held her hands outs for the carving knife and the piece of bone. She sat for a few moments attempting to carve bone. It was not as easy as Malar had made it look. The tauren had been scarping and hacking off pieces of bone like the bone was a piece of bread. Keina was attempting to scrape off some of the bone when the knife caught and slipped, heading towards her thumb, she barely avoided the knife. Eyeing it warily she gave the bone and the knife back to Malar who was gesturing for her hand.

"I'm fine." Keina muttered even as she held her hand out for him to inspect. The tauren grabbed her hand and flipped it over, having her spread her fingers occasionally and repeated the process once more before he was satisfied. He shook his head before letting out a sigh. Malar look to his side and reached for a woven basket and held it out to her, and then gestured with the basket to outside the cave.

He wanted her to collect herbs.

She only figured out what she would be collecting after she had accepted the basket and looked inside at the dried up herbs that were stuck in various places in the basket.

This was something that she could do. Well normally, knowing her at this moment though she'd screw it up somehow, but she wasn't going to pass up a chance to be outside this cave, out of their reach, and being on her own in the outside world for a little bit. Even if it was being outside in a desert.

And she really, really disliked deserts. She smiled gratefully at Malar and headed outside, her eyes instantly searching for any herb she recognized. She hummed a soft tune to herself as she ran her fingers through small patches of vegetation, picking Peacebloom when she saw it, the small white flower that honestly reminded her of a Daisy wasn't the herb she was looking for. It did help, especially when mixed with SIlverleaf but wasn't as strong as the other herbs that were supposed to be in this area.

Keina was looking for Liferoot and Firebloom. It was stronger and was better in a pinch if no one was able to heal. A sense of calm settled over her as she moved from patch to patch, picking what she knew and being careful of the small scorpions running about. She found it rather funny that she felt so calm even as sand made its way into her leather boots. She was still humming to herself and had gotten distracted by a colorful plant that wasn't an herb when a loud shout coming from the cave nearly made her drop the half-full basket of herbs.

"What the hell was that…?" She muttered to herself and turned her attention back to the cave. It sounded more like a roar than a shout really. She wondered if Cogar had woken up and dropped the pot on his foot again, he had done it a lot during the time she had been with them, it really made her think he should be limping.

"Where da hell is da elf?!" It was Vojjins voice, and that was as mad as she had ever heard him, and she definitely didn't want to see him. She wondered if the troll had noticed that he had shouted in Common instead of Orcish. She heard Cogar add something and Malar answer Vojjin, it seemed as if the tauren was trying to get the Troll to calm down.

Her brows furrowed when she realized both Cogar and Malar had spoken in Common, the tricksters. All this time she believed they hadn't understood her. She sighed and stood from the crouch she had been in and headed back towards the cave, she wasn't eager to face Vojjin's rage, but hey, what's a captured elf supposed to do? (Ignoring the fact that she was now willingly staying with them)

"I don't care if ya told her she could!" Vojjin stated angrily.

In response she heard Malar let out a deep sigh. "It was either having her collect herbs or watch her nearly cut her thumb off." Malar's voice was deeper than Vojjin's. It was the first time she had ever heard the tauren speak, she swore he just threw smiles and sighs at everyone instead of speaking. She felt that she had accomplished something after finally hearing his voice. (Even if it wasn't a goal she had originally set.)

"Cut her thumb off?" Vojjin questioned, his voice seeming to rise even more than before. "How could ya let da elf near a knife?"

Keina was now peeking in the side of the cave, watching this all play out, she wasn't quite ready to throw herself into the fire.

Malar stood up from his spot of the ground, he was now looking down at Vojjin, he really was a huge tauren. Malar gave a shake of his massive head. "Are you afraid she was going to kill one of us with it? If that was the case she would have done that ages ago, and she would have ran this morning when she woke up."

Vojjin's lips pulled back in a snarl. "Dat's not da point!"

Pointless.

All this arguing was just so pointless. Keina sighed and stepped into the cave, no matter how much she wanted to watch it play out she was pretty sure Vojjin was going to resort to violence. "Children, quit babbling, I didn't run away, nor did I try to stab someone in their sleep." She made her way between the two and the hairs on the back of her neck rose in alarm, she could feel the rage rolling off the troll and it set her instincts off. "So problem solved, yeah?"

Vojjin snarled and she switched her gaze to him. "What?" She asked.

The troll glared down at her, his eyes seeming to stab her like daggers. "Don't run off like dat again."

Keina just sighed. "I was just outside the cave, I was enjoying myself, and I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

Vojjin let out a bark of laughter. "Capable of takin' care of yerself?" He had turned away from her when he had told her to not run off again and now he was facing her again. "Ol' Vojjin seem ta remembah catchin' da elf." He stepped closer causing Keina to step back, "da elf was weak."

Keina tried not to respond to his angry words but she failed. Horribly. "I may have been captured by you then _troll_," she hissed out, throwing his race at him like an insult. "But I will—"She was cut off as a large tauren hand covered her mouth. She struggled, her anger still fueling her actions.

How dare Malar cut her off?

And how could Vojjin say such things?!

She grit her teeth together and struggled against the tauren, she may have known better than to pursue this fight, but smartness be damned.

The tauren held her firmly. "Angry words do not build bridges, they destroy them." Malar murmured, even though his voice was just a whisper it seemed to fill the cave.

Keina's anger dimmed down somewhat as she tried to interpret Malar's words. Obviously Malar was referring to the friendship that the two had been building, it wasn't much, but it was more than throwing profanities at each other. Malar was basically saying that this wouldn't help that friendship, it would destroy it. Keina huffed and jerked away from Malar and headed to the back of the cave and sat down next to a perplexed Cogar and a panting Mutton. She turned her gaze back to the still fuming troll. "I'm sorry for not waking you up when I did, if I had, then maybe we wouldn't be wanting to strangle each other."

Her words seemed to diffuse some of his anger because in the next minute his shoulders slumped and he turned his gaze away from her, muttering things under his breath.

Keina couldn't help but grin a little bit, she quickly cleared her throat to cover it though and turned her gaze to Cogar, and then to Malar. "I'm onto you two." She pointed at Malar, her finger seeming accusing. "You for sure can speak in Common! So don't try to deceive me!" She turned her gaze back to the orc. "And you, I have my suspicions about you."

Even if she had just wanted to strangle Vojjin until he stopped talking, she was enjoying herself, and she was sure that hanging with these three would be a time she would never forget.

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I still have no beta, so forgive me for mistakes. xD My beta is...busy xD (Well i have one, but she doesn't have a fanfiction, and she's like the chief editor of the school newspaper, and yet she still bothers to check my mistakes :D just not with this sotry xDD) I finally sat down and planned out the entiire cours eof this story. I know where it's going, and how it's going to end, i have alot more characters to introduce and reintroduce :D

Review my lovelies! Review!


	5. Barrens, Disguises, and Embarassment

A/N: I've read over this...but even then I probably haven't caught everything, so forgive me for mistakes! I almost hit a 2,000 wor count with ths chapter! I'm finally makaing things longer. xD Well this chapter was supposed to be longer...and I had to remember I'm writing this Pre-Cata...so I had to remember where the Zeppelin originally was. xD

Edit: I lied. I did make it over 2000 words. xD I just forgot half of this chapter -.- I forgot to press the tiny little save button on Microsoft Word soooo I had half the chapter lol.

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Keina wasn't proud to say that she was acting like a child, but at least she was admitting it. Since the disagreement she had with Vojjin the previous day the two had been avoiding each other's gazes. It was just awkward now, neither of them wanted to say something that would set the other off.

Keina even refused to ride with him on Aenyo, she had started walking in front of the group instead, throwing around the pathetic excuse of needing to exercise. She had been walking for only a few seconds when she was grabbed and placed on somebodies mount. She glanced down and so she was on Mutton, she turned her head towards Cogar. "What?" When the orc was about to shrug in reply she shot him a look. "I know you speak Common."

Cogar sighed and shook his head before giving in. "You're lighter, Mutton can carry you in this heat and that way someone won't be afraid you will run off." Keina grumbled but adjusted herself on Mutton's saddle anyway; the worg twisted his head slightly, his chocolate brown eye staring up at her. She smiled and gave the beast a pat on the head.

"Good boy." She murmured. A pang shot through her heart as Issa came into mind, she missed her. She would keep missing her. She sighed. "I'm sorry for being such a burden on you guys." If she had Issa she wouldn't be taking their mounts, if she was Horde she wouldn't be as mistrusted. Well, if she was Horde she wouldn't be here with them at this moment, and for once she was glad of the Night Elves alliance with the well…Alliance. (She could go into detail and say Humans, but she talked to herself far too much as it was.)

Cogar shook his head, a smile on the orcs face. "You're amusing, that makes everything better."

She grinned. "Finally someone who tells me I'm amusing instead of being a stuck up elf."

Cogar looked at Malar and Vojjin quickly and then turned back to Keina to reply. "Well, any other elf probably would have fought us every step of the way, and it's not the fact that your race is stuck up…they just seemed so wizened that they don't bother with us younger ones."

Keina nodded. "The night elves don't want to repeat any of their mistakes, they don't feel as if they should have to be bothered with you…young bloods so to speak."

Cogar shot her a slightly confused look. "You speak as if you aren't one of them."

Keina shrugged. "I am a night elf yes, and by no means am I young, but I don't agree with most of my kinds ideals."

The orc laughed a startled yet amused laugh. "How old are you?"

Keina grinned. "How old are _you_?" she teased.

"Thirty." He answered, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Now answer."

She sighed but answered him anyway. "Four hundred and ten." She heard sputtering behind her and suddenly Aenyo was walking along side Mutton.

The troll was looking at her with an incredulous expression on his face. "Yer old!"

Keina laughed, not feeling insulted at all. "Compared to you, yes I am, but for my race? I am only past my adult hood, and not even near becoming middle aged yet. How about you Vojjin?"

"Twenty eight." He muttered.

Keina quirked her head to the side. "That's not old, so why do you sound displeased?"

He shot her a sharp look, amused and yet it held something else, something she wasn't able to identify, possibly amazement. "Displease?" he mocked. "Didn't know da elf used da polite way of speakin'" He laughed and continued. "Ol' Vojjin may be young compared ta ya, but I be close ta middle age."

Malar had moved his kodo closer to them and spoke. "Since I will be asking a question I may as well state my age, I am thirty-two." He stated, he too was approaching middle age. He shook his heavy head, attempting to shoo away a fly that seemed very interested in landing on him. "Aren't night elves immortal?" he asked.

Keina grinned, someone was behind the time. "Those born before the destruction of the Well of Eternity are possibly immortal, not that this has been confirmed, but once the well was destroyed we lost our immortality." She paused, thoughts running through her mind, she shoved them aside and continued. "I was born after the destruction of the well, and I never once wished to be immortal, we are too long lived as it is." Her tone turned sad as she once again continued to speak. "I try not to make friends that I will outlive, it's not nice seeing the ones you care about waste away before your very eyes, and normally the one wasting away will push the long lived elf away from them, not liking how age would take their life and not affect the elf…"

The group fell silent and finally Vojjin spoke up. "So ya wouldn't have had many relationships wit anyone short-lived?"

Keina couldn't help but laugh. "No, not really, for one I can't stand most of the men of my race, most of them are so vain, the humans…the only one I can stand is Asanri, she's so crazy that I just love her, and gnomes and dwarves really aren't to my liking…"

"What about those…tentacle tailed hooved beings?" Cogar asked, his voice sounding unsure of himself, he couldn't quite remember the name for that race.

Keina laughed once more. "Love your description skills there, but no, I don't talk much to the Draenai, and I don't particularly like hooves." She said and then hurried and added "No offense, Malar."

Malar grunted, and she took that as him saying he didn't mind.

She didn't hate the races, she was just detached, a habit of hers as well as a rule she had set for herself. It was a rule she had already broken, whether she liked it or not she was now attached to all three of them. It would make her weak. The group fell into a silence as they continued their journey, they ventured out of Thousand Needles and were now in The Barrens.

"Hey," she said, addressing Vojjin. "We're going to Crossroads yeah? And then into Durotar to get to Orgrimmar?"

The troll nodded. Not saying anything, he seemed slightly dazed.

Keina sighed. "Well it's not like I can just waltz into crossroads."

Vojjin turned and looked at her. "We could always dress ya up as a female orc."

Before she could answer Cogar was already talking. "Wrong skin tone, too tall, and the ears are far too long."

Keina nodded. "My ears aren't exactly flexible."

Vojjin snorted. "Neither are ya, 'nd ya won't pass as a troll."

Malar was rummaging around in his packs and he came up with some white paint, he stopped his Kodo and hopped off, signaling for the rest to stop as well. Cogar stood next to her while Vojjin hopped off of Aenyo, his curiosity plain on his face. Malar motioned for Keina to come closer. She sighed and hopped off of Mutton, and stopped in front of the tauren. "What?" she asked.

Malar held the paint out to her. "Does this match the color of your fur in your animal forms?"

She looked at the paint and nodded.

The shaman grunted. "Change." He stated.

What was with him and his one worded sentences? She wondered that even as she changed into her cat form, the snapping and the rearranging of her bones didn't bother her anymore. She was used to it. She grinned as only a cat could grin when Cogar stepped back.

Vojjin crouched in front of her, a grin on his face. "Look at da little elf. " He reached a hand out and ruffled the top of her head.

She glared at him, but let him pet her anyway, she had yet to figure out why everyone insisted on petting her once she changed forms, and it was annoying. She shook her head dislodging his hand from further messing up her fur. Malar crouch down next to her and scooped out paint, using it to cover her druid markings the large crescent moon on her left shoulder and the claw markings on her face. She twitched her tail irritably, the paint smelled funny and it made her fur feel all icky. She cocked her head to the side, her way of asking why.

"Since we can't exactly disguise you as a member of the Horde, you'll accompany us as a pet." Malar's voice rumbled. "It's common for hunters to send a pet with a travelling group, and you don't have to do much of anything, just stay in that form."

Cogar burst out laughing. "Cats are fickle creatures, so even if she does understand what people are saying no one will think twice about it.

Their plan worked rather well, no one at the Crossroads thought she was anything other than a hunters pet with a funny collar. Well, it would have been flawless if Keina hadn't tried to bite of a curious orcs hand when he reached out to pet her. She was getting sick of the petting, so far the only one out of their little group to pet her had been Vojjin, she wasn't about to bite him.

The troll seemed to take great pleasure in annoying her. She made a small sound in the back of her throat and stalked away from the group, not far, just a little bit ahead of them. She grumbled to herself and glared at a few small animals as she passed them. She wasn't hungry in the least, she was irritated, so she was tempted to chase one. She wouldn't though, she was by no means cruel.

They rode like that for a while, and Keina was starting to get tired of walking, she did have her limits but she wasn't going to beg someone for a ride. She heard a muttered curse and suddenly she had to dodge raptor talons. She stared up in horror at the troll on the raptor. What was he trying to do?

She sure as hell wouldn't walk away from being stepped on by a fully grown raptor without at least a broken rib.

"Ya either change 'nd get on Aenyo, or Aenyo will be squishin' da elf." Vojjin rumbled.

She glared at him but eyed the raptors clawed feet warily before changing forms and attempting to climb onto the raptor. Keina's foot slipped from where she had placed it on the stirrup, she had to desperately grab onto something to keep from falling. That something though…happened to be Vojjin's thigh. She didn't look at the troll when she tried to pull herself further up, she ended up in an even more awkward position and she refused to grab onto any other part of him.

She could feel his laughter rumble in his chest as he placed his hands around her waist and lifted her, settling her between his thighs. She muttered a quiet thank you and kept her gaze ahead, still refusing to look at him.

This was bad, she thought.

She was now more physically aware of him than she had been, because of the awkward position her senses were now picking up everything about him, the smoothness of his breathing, his spicy scent, the way he position his head so his tusks wouldn't brush her. Even worse though was the heat of him, she was aware of what places her body met his.

This was really, really bad.

Her face felt hot.

By the moon…was she _blushing_?

She dearly hoped not.

As Keina was fretting over the small fact of whether or not she was blushing, Malar was once again rummaging through his bag. "Here." He said and through a brown cloak at her. "The pet guise we did back in Crossroads will not work in Orgrimmar."

She frowned and slipped on the robe, she had to pull it over her head. When she lifted her arms they brushed Vojjin's tusks, she let the robe drop and she had to wiggle a little bit to get it straight. She hadn't quite gotten it right when suddenly one of Vojjin's hands grasped her waist. "Stop dat, mon." He grumbled.

Keina was definitely blushing by now. She huffed and pulled the hood up, hiding her face and anything that would get her caught from view.

Once again silence fell on the group, but this time it wasn't peaceful quiet, it was tense quiet. The possibility of getting caught loomed over their heads. At least if they caught Keina she'd probably just be killed, but Vojjin, Cogar, and Malar? They would be dishonored, marked traitors, and most probably something bad would happen to them.

She couldn't stand the thought of it.

They passed Orgrimmar and headed to the tower that had the zeppelins. Everything was going fine, and it made Keina's hackles rise. She wasn't used to things going so smooth, or maybe she was worrying too much.

It turned out she was worrying too much.

"This is where we part ways." Cogar said. He smiled; his smile had just a touch of sadness in it. He approached Keina (she was still in the saddle with Vojjin) "It was nice meeting a member of the Alliance that didn't want my head." He looked almost shy as he held something out to her. "Here, take this, it's a small, but let it be a token of our friendship!" Keina accepted it and her mouth opened in surprise. It was a necklace; it would be a choker if she put it on. The necklace was beautiful it was beaded, strung with bone, beads, and some small precious looking stones.

"It's beautiful, thank you." Keina said her voice soft. This was the second gift she had gotten in her life, the first was from Asanri, the priestess had given her many others, but she didn't group those as separate gifts.

"It's from all three of us." Malar added in. "I carved the bone, Cogar strung it and added the gems, and the final part of it Vojjin still has." His eyes cut to the troll as he said that and she could hear Vojjin sputter.

"Ol' Vojjin has no idea what ya be talkin' about!" His voice was shaky, and slightly raised. He was nervous, and he was a terrible liar. Keina rolled her eyes but lifted the choker and placed it around her neck, it had two rows of bones and gems, and it fit comfortably.

Malar dipped his head, and his gaze switched to the incoming zeppelin to Stranglethorn. "This is indeed where we shall part. Do know that we will meet again, all of us our friends, companions." He smile, his black eyes warm with affection. "Do try not to kill him; it would be too much trouble to bury him."

She laughed and Vojjin sputtered, and then urged Aenyo onto the zeppelin. Keina turned as much as she could and waved to Cogar and Malar. "Goodbye my friends!" She then said something in Darnassian. She knew none of them knew her mother tongue.

So what she said was something only she knew, it was something that had been brewing the back of her mind for ages now, and it was something she just had to voice to hear it with her own ears to believe it.

The zeppelin pulled away from the dock and Vojjin and her hopped off of Aenyo, loading the mount into the cargo hold before heading to find their shared room.

Keina had a feeling this was going to be an interesting trip.

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A/N: Yeah this was supposed to be longer...but I finished writing chapt six before I did chapter five. o-o Is that sad? But yus! Review! I shall post chapter six as soon as I'm done rereading it. xD


	6. Lomali

Bleh. I fixed what I found, but that hardly helps xD And yeah Cogar and Malar are gone...for now. They'll pop back in and out for a few. New char in thsi chap! :D The title is a giveaway xDD lol, anyway enjoy!

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First a desert, and now a jungle. Keina grumbled as she looked over the side of the zeppelin, watching as everything faded away only to be replaced by more ant sized trees, and even smaller inhabitants. She ignored the piercing eyes of a short puke green goblin that was leaning against the raised wood of the entrance that led to below the deck.

The goblin really was short, and that was in goblin terms. The bastard had been staring at her for the past half-hour, he really made her hackles rise.

A roar of laughter erupted from below the deck of the zeppelin.

Troll laughter.

She sighed and laid her head on top of her folded arms, Vojjin was below deck, probably getting drunk (without her, the bastard.) cracking jokes, and wooing someone. Keina sighed once more, and mulled over everything that happened so far in her head.

Accepted job, got lost in Tanaris, lost Issa, kidnapped by a troll, didn't run away from said troll, had to act as a pet, nearly got squashed by an orc, introduced to Vol'jin, and was now in a zeppelin to Stranglethorn. Lovely life she was leading so far.

The goblin made a clicking noise and her head snapped towards him, she said nothing but just glared at him. The goblin winked at her and she bared her teeth at him. He looked insulted.

Good for him.

That little disturbing goblin really was giving her the creeps, and attacking a member of the Horde on a Horde zeppelin wasn't the best of ideas. Her presence was barely being tolerated as it was. She moved from her comfortable spot with great view and headed below the deck, she needed to find Vojjin.

Keina dodged several orcs, trolls, and a few goblins until she made her way to where she saw Vojjin. She glared at his slumped over form on the table, he couldn't have possibly had that much to drink. She poked him in his side, seeing if anything would happen.

Nothing did.

She moved to his other side, his head was turned towards her then, giving her better access to his tusks. She grabbed both of them and wrenched his head back.

Still nothing.

She let go of his tusks and watched with satisfaction has his head dropped roughly back to the worn table surface. She hoped that would hurt when he woke up. She slumped down in the empty seat across from the troll and leaned her head on her hand, watching everything and yet nothing at the same time.

A slight tap on her shoulder drew her from her daze, she looked to her right, saw no one, and then looked down, a female goblin. The goblin threw her a smile, and Keina hesitantly smiled back .

"Whaddya want, hunny?" The goblin asked in Common.

Keina nibbled on her lower lip in thought for a moment before answering. "I'll take whatever he was having." She said, jerking her thumb over at Vojjin.

The goblin laughed. "Honey sweetened ale it is!" She turned to leave, but Keina reached out a hand to stop her.

"Ah, could I get some food as well, what do you have?" She grinned to herself for a moment before she added. "Could you also tell me how much of that honey ale this troll had?"

The waitress pursed her lips in thought for a moment before answering, sticking to the order the questions were asked in. "Hmm, the cook as some stew, it's beef stew just incase you were wondering. There's also some bread and cheese, there are other things as well...but I'm not sure you would like them." The goblin's eyes turned towards the passed out troll. "I believe he had only three mugs."

Keina couldn't help but laugh. "Three mugs? He's such a lightweight!" She cleared her throat. "I'll take some of that stew with some bread, if you don't mind."

The waitress nodded. "That'll come out to around...sixty silver." She gave Keina a quick wink. "I even gave you a discount! It's because I like you."

Keina's eyes widened in surprise, wondering what she did to get a goblin to give her a discount, it absolutely unheard of. Goblin's loved their money. Keina shoved her thoughts aside as she drew the time worn leather pouch from her side and fished out sixty silver, handing it to the waitress, she drew out a gold coin as well and handed it to the goblin. "That's for giving me a discount." She said, grinning.

The waitress shot her a shocked yet grateful look and hurried off to fulfil her order.

" 'Ey." A large hand grabbed her shoulder, and forced her to turn around and stare up into the face of the most monstrous orc she had seen in her life. He would have made Cogar look like a food deprived, short orc. And Cogar was none of those things.

"What do you eat?" She asked. She really wanted to know, he was huge, she bet he could eat a whole cow by himself.

The orc said something else, but this time it was in Orcish, not broken Common. She shook her head trying to convey the fact that she didn't understand. The orc growled something else at her and lunged for her. She leapt out of the way and watched as poor Vojjin was knocked from his place at the table, landing in a heap on the scuffed wooden floor of the Zeppelin, the troll didn't wake up even as his face met the floor. The orc lunged for her once more and Keina leapt away from him, she darted up the steps and came out on the deck of the zeppelin. She gritted her teeth as she looked at the lack of railings on the deck. The orc had followed her up to the deck and had gotten a nasty looking club from somewhere. She relly didn't want to learn how to fly at this point in her life.

He swung the club a few times before lashing out at her, Keina just managed to dive into a crouch and roll away from the next hit. She shot to her feet and he began to walk circles around her, Keina followed him with her eyes, she wouldn't give this orc a chance to bury that club in her back. She itched to change forms, she fought better in her animal forms.

She had a feeling that changing into one of her forms wouldn't end well, not on a zeppelin full of Horde. She leapt away once more but her body crashed into something living. She shot away and looked behind her, another orc. Smaller than the first, but just as ugly.

She was going to get robbed, she could tell what they were after when they eyed the leather pouch attached to her waist. Even if she did throw her coin puch at them...they probably wouldn't let her go, and she didn't want to be broke...and dead at the same time. She dodged the first orcs swing and slammed her fist into the others stomach, she used the doubling over orc as a distraction and darted back into the bar that was under the deck. She pushed her way through the crowd, kicking and clawing at the ones that tried to push her back out there. Keina stood panting above the still passed out Vojjin and grabbed him by the tusks, pulling him up until it looked like his was sitting. "Wake up you fool!"

She hated depending on others for help but she didn't exactly want to get mobbed by the entire ship for attacking two thieves. She shook the troll once more, watching in dismay as he still didn't respond. He seriously couldn't handle his liquor. She let out a furious sigh and let him drop back down to the ground. Useless troll. She darted away from him and headed further back, hoping to lose the two orcs by hiding herself in the gathering crowd.

That didn't work so well.

She was shoved back out onto the main floor. She cursed in Darnassian as the two orcs surrounded her again. She had no choice but to fight.

The first orc swung the club at her again th few nails sticking out from it's en just barely grazing her cheek as she dodged. It drew blood. Keina dived for the floor, rolling a little and ended up at Vojjin's passed out body. She hurriedly took one of the trolls daggers from his belt. She held it out in front of her and leapt into the fight. She slashed at the second orc and buried her foot in the first ones stomach sending him back a few paces. The second orc lunged at her, Keina let him come into contact with her, she slashed out with the knife managing to cut him across his side. The orc roared with pain and drew back from her, the or with the club came barreling at her, swinging the club even more wildly than before. She bared her teeth in a feral snarl, she wasn't quick enough to dodge the club fully, but she managed to move to where it her her in the stomach, the club bounced off a bit and came back just as quickly, catching her in her side.

Keina was thrown back a few feet and from a blazing pain in her side she knew a few ribs were broken. She flipped in the air and landed in a crouch. Both orcs were advancing on her again, the first one looking at the blood oozing from the places he managed to catch her with the club, the other out for revenge.

She cursed once more.

Screw this. She stuck the dagger in the scuffed wooden floor beneath her, she let herself change, her bones cracking and snapping, changing to her cat form. She leapt as soon as the change was made, She landed on the first orc, her fangs buried in his shoulder, claws ripping at his chest.

The orc screamed, it was full of pain and rage.

Blood filled her mouth and she shook her head ripping her fangs free, she leapt from the orc as he started to fall, she landed lightly on her paws and growled at the second one, daring him to make a move. He glared at her but backed off into the crowd, she turned her gaze to the other orc.

He was writhing on the floor in pain, hands desperately clutching at his wounds to stop the blood flow. She knew it was useless, the orc would die. She felt nothing, just a old indifference. Was she that war-hardened as to not feel anything for killing?

Keina's head snapped up as the crowd began to roar and move closer, this was why she wanted to avoid fighting. It wouldn't matter if the dead orc was the scum of Azeroth, because when it all came down to it the orc was a member of the Horde and that one over an Alliance member defending for their life any day. The crowd of people pressed closer, and angry shouts were everywhere. Surprisingly she could make out a few voices trying to defend her. The angry ones shoved to the front and advanced towards her, she took a few steps back, her tail twitching from side to side in irritation.

They kept coming and they kept advancing, she wasn't going to make it out of this one.

Just when she thought she was done for a voice rose above the rest of the crowd. "Fools, leave the Alliance alone." There was a scuffle and a shout of pain and the smell of burned flesh in the air when the person shoved their way to the front.

It was an undead woman.

Her rough looking hair was dark and pulled back in a low ponytail, her face was thin, her skin a grey color that only death could grant, her eyes were a dim gold they probably would've looked like molten meal when she was breathing. Her left shoulder was just bone, her forearms, hip bones, and calves just bone as well.

She looked like she would've been stunning in her living days, Keina cocked her head to the side. The undead woman didn't smell that bad either.

"Why are you defending a murderer?!" Someone piped up from within the crowd. Keina mentally frowned and looked for the person that had said it, they must've been mentally deranged. It wasn't quite murder...she was defending herself, thought that didn't change the fact that she took a life.

The situation would've taken someones life either way, so it was balanced out in a way.

The woman frowned. "Murder? No you damn fool, this was simply another squabble between the Horde and the Alliance, killing each other is what we do."

The same person said something else but Keina couldn't quite make it out. The woman's glowering face slid into a even more murderous glare. "Loth'gar." Was all she said, and suddenly someone was screaming. There were shocked gasps, and some nervous laughter. Keina tried to see what was going on, but and cat form she didn't have the advantage of height. She mentally sighed and shift back to her natural form, she rubbed the back of her neck tiredly, maybe she was getting too old for this...

Oh.

Her eyes took in a huge fel-guard holding up a scrawny goblin by the ankle. So the woman was a warlock. The undead sighed. "If any of you try something like this again than Loth'gar will...dispose of you." The crowd grumbled their complaints and moved back to what they were doing before the night elf was going to get killed. The fel-guard set the goblin back on the ground and watched as he scrambled away.

The undead waved her hand and tiredly mumbled a few things and suddenly Loth'gar had disappeared. Keina hesitantly approached the the woman. "Thank you." She murmured.

The woman glanced at her, well really she was looking up at Keina. "Don't get your ass mugged again."

Keina grinned. "Don't plan on it." the night elf didn't even take notice that most of the people on this ship were speaking Common. Keina held out her hand. "I'm Keina, it's a pleasure to meet you." She jerked her thumb back at the still passed out troll behind her. "And that lightweight is Vojjin, my friend and disgruntled traveling companion." She sighed. "Not to mention useless."

The undead woman glanced briefly at the troll before accepting Keina's hand. "I'm Lomali, and as to you repaying me and whatnot, I'll just tag along with you, you two look like an entertaining couple." She grinned. "After all, I need an amusing undeath."

Keina was slightly shocked that the woman had just self-invited herself, but the druid wasn't offended. "Ah...okay." A grin slipped onto her face when she glanced at the troll. "His reaction should be so funny!" She almost giggled, but that would be just plain...disturbing. "Join me for lunch?" She paused. "Do the the undead eat?"

Lomali shrugged. "I can, but it holds no nutrition for me, my body is dead. I can't even taste food."

Keina nodded. "I see..." The two women sat down at the table that Keina had originally been at. "Can you die?"

Lomali laughed. "You haven't met my kind before, have you?"

Keina laughed a little, an embarrassed laugh. "Not really, I mean I've seen your kind from afar...but I haven't fought you."

The warlock smile softly. "We can die, just like the ghouls and zombies walking around. Just because we are the living dead doesn't mean we are immortal."

She nodded, and her stomach let out a hungry growl as she caught the scent of food. The waitress from earlier had brought her food. The goblin set her food out in front of her and winked. "Glad you lived, hunny." Then she was sauntering off.

Keina didn't have time to think how weird some people were, she was already picking up a spoon and digging into the stew, dipping the crispy bread chunk in it occasionally. The food was really good, and pretty soon she was finished with it. Then she sipped on her honey sweetened ale, loving the sweetness of it on her tongue. She looked at her table companion, suddenly feeling bad for eating and drinking in front of her. "You really can't taste anything?"

Lomali shook her head. "No, I can't." She smiled. "Continue drinking, we'll see if you can hold more than the troll."

"Challenge accepted." Keina said.

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Review! And I know not such an exciting fight scene xD But oh well. Not much of a sober Vojjin this chap, sorry. xD


	7. Aftermath

Eh, a bit more serious than usual, and I should warn you this story won't always be so light hearted xD I do have a plot, but it doesn't get depressing anytime soon. xD But enjoooy! :D

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It had been a rather successful night; Keina had managed to down ten mugs (Bad idea, really.) before getting insanely drunk. With some help from her newfound dead smelling friend she had made it to her room. The room was shared with Vojjin, but the two had left Vojjin passed out on the table.

Keina couldn't wait till he woke up; it was going to be so funny.

Well, for her at least.

She cracked an eye open and glared at the sunlight streaming in through the window; she had woken up about an hour ago with a screaming headache. Thanks to the small amount of healing magic she knew, she was able to get rid of her hangover, but she couldn't get rid of the desire to stay in bed.

And that is what she had been doing for an entire hour, lying in bed and staring at nothing. She felt no desire to get out from underneath her warm blankets; she was very comfortable at the moment.

"What da hell, mon?!" A very familiar voice roared.

Oh goody.

He was up!

She glanced at the closed door of their (her) room, even though she really, really wanted to see the look on his fact at the moment she couldn't quite get up to energy. She sighed and turned her gaze to the wooden ceiling, just what was she doing?

She had duties elsewhere.

She couldn't just spend her time running around with an amusing troll; Keina had promises to keep…

She was a fool to think this would last, how long would they stick together on this journey? Would she be forced to watch him die? She didn't associate herself with other people for that fear...but she obviously failed at it.

Back in Darnassus there was Asanri, her human friend. Now she had new friends...Cogar, Malar, and Vojjin. (Lomali was working her way up there, but she didn't have to worry about the undead dying before she herself did.)

She groaned and covered her eyes with her arm, the sunlight hurt her eyes. Keina was sick of the sorrow; she had had enough of that back in Darnassus. The new home of the Night Elves was full of it. At least it seemed that Dalnaar had dealt with his.

Dalnaar...the druid had always been her pillar, holding her up when she wanted to collapse. Then there was Issa... Issa had always, _always_ been there for her, now that she was without the saber, she felt a hole in herself, in her soul maybe.

She was such a fool.

A fool that feared life, feared everyone's death but her own. She was tired of living so long, tired of witnessing the turn of centuries. Maybe she was searching for death?

She laughed at herself, no, she wasn't searching for death, she was waiting for it to come to her. Ah...she was a twisted soul.

The door banged open, wood splintering and a deafening screech sounded as the door was ripped from its hinges with the force of it. "Break the door why don't you, now you have to buy it." She murmured not even bothering to look. She knew who it was.

"Fuck da door," Vojjin snarled. "Ya left meh in dat bar last night!"

She felt herself shrug. "So? You left me to get mugged." She tried to force her bad mood back into the pit it had sprung from. She forced a grin onto her face. "Not my fault you can't hold your drink, some troll you are." She moved her arm from over her eyes and turned to peer at the troll, his breathing was rapid, probably from his rage. His long red hair was out of his braid, it was spilling across his shoulders and down his back, it made her fingers itch to run through it.

For some reason his tusks looked extra pointy, that couldn't be a good thing, she hoped his jaw was sore...if not his tusks.

Could he feel if someone touched his tusks? Would it hurt if they were broken? The answers she did and did not want to find out.

She sighed. "I thought trolls were supposed to be able to drink a dwarf under the table." It was quite a feat to beat a dwarf at a drinking game. Those dwarves seemed to run off of their beer, drinking it constantly. She had flown with a dwarf in Outland once...the poor bastard was so wasted that he thought the tail of his nether drake had been its head. Sad to say...the dwarf didn't quite make it on that trip.

Vojjin growled low in his throat and moved, first he had been at the door and now he was yanking her out of the bed. Damn he moved fast when he wanted to. She tilted her head back and glared at him, not caring if his normally amber eyes were tinted red. "Don't blame me for your shit." She hissed out.

"I dun blame ya for mah shit. I blame ya for leavin' meh on dat table all night!" His voice was rising, getting louder and angrier. She bet he had a horrible hangover. She vaguely recalled leaving him on the floor…so some kind person at least put him back on the table.

Her anger left her, she wouldn't rise to this fight, and she didn't feel up to it. She sighed and lifted a hand and poked the tusk that was near her face. "Do you feel that?" He shook his head in answer dislodging her finger in the process. She bit the inside of her cheek and motioned to his jaw. "How about your jaw?"

His eyes narrowed slightly and she cursed herself for mentioning it. "Sore." He muttered.

"You pay for everything today and I'll do you a favor." She said sweetly.

His eyes were still narrowed; he was looking at her with suspicion. "Fine." Apparently his curiosity won out. She reached her hand up and laid it on his cheek, somehow managing to touch his temple in his jaw at the same time.

Her hand glowed green as she summoned what little healing magic she knew, after a few minutes she let her hand drop. "Better?"

He nodded and before he could say something she held up her hand. "Yes, I can heal, no I can't heal major wounds so don't even think of me as a life line." Her stomach grumbled as soon as she was finished talking. She turned in looked up at him, trying to put on the most innocent look she had. "Food?"

Maybe if she ate something she'd feel less tired, because that's how she felt at this moment, exhausted to the bone. Her anger and her sadness at left her, and the drain of emotions left her feeling so very, very tired. She headed out in front of Vojjin, trying her best not to step on any splinters, she may be wearing leather shoes but that didn't mean she wouldn't get a splinter in her foot. It would be just her luck to step on the one shard of wood that would stab through the leather and stab into her foot. The neck of her shirt stretched and then dug into her as Vojjin picked her up with it and then slung her over his shoulder. "What the he—" she was cut off as she jostled her into a more comfortable position. (More comfortable for him at least.) "Put me down!" she hissed.

He either didn't hear her (which meant he had really bad hearing) or he was ignoring her. She'd bet all her money on the letter. She sighed and tried to push her hair out of her face, the white strands were trying their best to smother her.

She really didn't get why in all the stories the humans tell that this position was supposed to be romantic, it was rather uncomfortable. She had recently healed her cracked ribs and they were still slightly sore, she knew they were going to be bruised by tomorrow.

She heard cackles and snorts of laughter as Vojjin walked into the bar. Damn the troll. Keina tried her best to peer around Vojjin, but all she saw was his back. Damn the troll once more.

"Oh, I see my friend is in the process of being elf-napped." Keina recognized the smooth yet raspy voice of Lomali.

"A little help would be nice." She once again tried to twist to around Vojjin so she could see, yet again she failed. "I promise he won't die…so feel free."

"Dun be promisin' anythin'." The troll ground out.

Keina shrugged. "You're the one starting this; don't blame me if you end up with more bruises."

Finally Keina was able to see things that didn't involve a troll's back as she was swung off his shoulder and basically thrown into a chair, a chair she noticed that was next to Lomali. She ignored Vojjin as he settled down across from her. "Were you going to help, or just watch?"

The undead shrugged, a small tilt of her lips signaled that she was amused. "It would have been entertaining to watch, it is not every day that I get to witness a troll kidnapping a night elf."

Keina sighed. "Glad to see that you're enjoying your undeath," she turned her head towards the scent of food. "Food?" she asked once again.

Vojjin sighed; it seemed that sighing was contagious. "Fine, ya'll get ya food."

Well, she thought, at least he fed her.

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Review! I luffles the reviews. I turn eighteen on Saturday o-o it's so weird.


	8. Pasts

Woo, an update! I would've made it longer, but by the time I got out of my thrid hour and into my free hour...I just wasn't in the mood anymore, so I cut it off early. xD

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"Tell mah why ya brought dis...smelly ding inta da group?" Vojjin grumbled into his ale. The troll had refused to acknowledge his lack of tolerance for the drink and so he was drinking once again. Though, Keina noticed, the mug was considerably smaller than the last one, probably the waitress's doing.

Keina let her head drop to the table and made some motion with her hands in the air. "You two work it out," she murmured. "I will be sleeping." As soon as the words were out of her mouth there was a large bang on the table.

"'Ey! Ya can't just leave mah wit the dead ding!" Vojjin said angrily. He was honestly reminding her of a child at the moment.

"Yes I can," she mumbled "Because Lomali can teach you a few things, and she doesn't smell that bad so don't _even_ say anything about it." She turned her head to look at the warlock, the hard wood digging into her cheek. Lomali was happily ignoring them while reading a book. "See, she knows how to be quiet...and at this point in the trip we really don't smell good. Any of us." She turned her head once more to look at the troll. "Especially you. You smell funny."

Vojjin just grumbled something unintelligible and went back to his ale.

The trip went on like that, Lomali and Vojjin bickering at each other any chance they got, each insult worse than the last. Keina had decided she wasn't flying by zeppelin ever again, it was almost worse than going places by boat. As soon as the zeppelin docked Keina was ready to jump off of it to hug the wood that made up the platform, or the ground, but she was dragged back by both Vojjin and Lomali.

"Fun killers." She muttered.

Lomali raised a non-existent eyebrow; it was interesting to see the muscle move up and down. The warlock was a silent one, she was wise and she knew when to keep her mouth shut when Keina didn't (really Keina was just refusing to keep it shut.)

Vojjin sighed, seeming to act his age for once. "Dis is Grom'gol; it's a Horde base camp remembah?"

She sighed and nodded, and didn't complain when he shoved a smelly robe over her head, she even let him draw her hood up to hide her face and especially her ears. They walked down the ramp in the tower and Lomali did most of the talking, not many wanted to associate with the undead so most quickly left, the one that did stay was a very familiar looking orc that Keina wanted to pounce.

"Ah, another one added to the group." Cogar said, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Though, all of you smell about the same."

Keina started forward to complete her mission of pouncing on her favorite orc when she was jerked back by Vojjin; she muttered un-pleasantries under her breath while Cogar burst out laughing.

He shook his head and smoothed a hand down his face, trying to quit laughing. "I'll show you to where you will be staying." He motioned for them to follow and they did, Keina couldn't help but wonder why Vojjin and Lomali were being so quiet. Well, Lomali she got, the warlock was always quiet. The place he led them to was on the outside of the camp, it was quite literally on the outskirts, it was within the jungle so it blocked from the view of the camp. That was good, there was also a stream running in the back. It was convenient, almost too convenient. She turned her head towards Cogar; he wouldn't betray them, would he?

Cogar sighed. "Would the two of you quit staring at me like that!" He shifted from one foot to the other; it was a rather humorous sight to see a huge orc like Cogar being nervous.

Vojjin once again pulled Keina back from going to the orc. "I thought ya were goin' ta stay in Orgrimmar?" he said.

Cogar sighed. "I was assigned to Grom'gol by the Warchief; I had planned to just relax in my house..." He adjusted the huge war axe that was strapped to his back. "I made sure you got this place so no one would find out about Keina."

Keina leaned her head back to look at the house, or was it a cottage...? She mentally shrugged, whatever it was it was at most two stories, probably a bedroom on the bottom, and a bedroom at the top. There were three of them though, did the undead sleep? Keina grimaced and wrinkled her nose at the sunlight, it was a good thing she really didn't fight with magic or she would be useless in the day time.

Night elves were at their strongest at night and weaker during the day. It was an interesting yet useless fact, most of her kind didn't bother helping out with things unless it was a world destroying event. Her mind drifted off as she tried to place all the time her people had actually helped.

The War of the Ancients...well they didn't exactly help in that one, it was their war, Queen Azshara and her advisor had messed with the powerful magic of the Well of Eternity, bringing to them demons, a false god, nearly destroying their race. There was Neltharion the Earthwarder, the old gods drove him crazy, the elves and the dragonflights had to rise up and defeat him...there was much, much more, but thinking of it made Keina depressed. She hadn't lived to see such things, but her people told the tales, Tyrande, their high priestess had lived in those days. Keina glanced at Lomali, in all honesty she should hate Lomali, she was a walking disruption to the balance, and she even used demons.

Keina may hate demons, Demon Hunters, death knights, and any other thing that had to do with demonic energies, but she felt sympathy for the Forsaken. Most of her race would try to kill Lomali on sight, not to mention Cogar.

Her race despised the orcs, they were angry about the Warsong Orcs stripping the forest, and their rage grew even worse when they remembered Cenarius, the death of the demi-god was a loss to them all. Keina was just angry with the Warsong Orcs, not the others.

"...how is ya family, Cogar?" Vojjin asked, Keina had just tuned back into the conversation so had only caught the end of the conversation. She turned her gaze towards Cogar, waiting for his answer.

Cogar smiled. "They are fine; my mother is just as stubborn as always."

Keina cocked her head to the side in a bird like movement; her curiosity obvious on her face, her hood had slid off of her face when Vojjin had yanked her back once again. "You have no life mate?"

Vojjin gave her a weird look. "Ya talk funny, elf."

Keina huffed and was just about to retort when Cogar spoke up. "I have no life mate as you put it," his eyes held a bit of sadness in them, as if he was remembering something that brought him pain. "How about you Keina, how do you think your family is faring?"

Keina shrugged. "My family isn't quite like yours." She tucked a few strands of her moonlight colored hair behind one of her long ears. "With my people when a child is born the entire community raises the child, everyone is family. If one were to leave they would generally send letters, and gifts to help the young elf on their journey." She smiled as she thought of all the times Dalnaar had pulled her from trouble as a young elf. They were nice to her as a child, even if she pulled herself away from them as she was absorbed with the druidic arts. Those were good and bad times, she grew up in the forests of Ashenvale, it was just recently that Darnassus had been made, she had manage to snag one of the few rooms that were hidden from sight.

All three of her companions looked at her as if she were crazy, Lomali spoke up first. "Isn't that lonely?" She shook her head in disbelief. "I imagine it would be very lonely not having a parent to yourself, a parent to call your own."

Keina shrugged. "You can't miss what you never knew." She nibbled on her lower lip in thought. "Well...I suppose the closest I ever came to what you're talking about is with Dalnaar and Issa. Dalnaar has always been a fatherly towards me, more so than the rest of the men in the community, and Issa... Issa was always there for me, from the time she was a small cub." She trailed off and shook her head; she didn't want to think of this. She didn't want the ache in her chest. Dalnaar was not overly friendly with the rest of their people, he was courteous, but he kept to himself and no one bothered to reach out to him, their people regarded him with cold eyes and false smiles.

Keina had never figured out the reason to it, she hadn't asked either. She knew whatever it was it caused him pain, and she never wanted to cause him pain. Her stomach twisted into knots just thinking of him. What was he thinking right now? She was long overdue for returning from the mission he had given her.

Was he worried?

Would he look for her?

She shook her head, these were all questions she did and did not want answers to. She felt her cheeks go warm as she realized she was being stared at. She cleared her throat and said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm going to look around inside!" She jerked away from Vojjin and hurriedly headed inside of the small building, not caring if there were three pairs of eyes gazing into her back. As soon as she was inside she shut the door behind her and leaned against it, her legs seemed to give out on her and she was sliding down to the floor. She sighed and leaned her head back against the door. She didn't want to feel this.

She didn't want the pain.

She took a deep breath and let it out, pushing it away. She couldn't deal with it now. She had learned to do that a long time ago, when she was much younger she'd cry after she killed someone or something, not directly after, but long hours into the night when it was going on morning and everyone else was falling asleep.

She wouldn't sob, she would just sit and think it over, pondering the reason of why she had to take lives, tears rolling down her cheeks as she did. She had learned to harden herself after that.

Staying with these three was dangerous, but she was attached already. Her lips lifted in a smile as she thought of Malar, things would be different if he were here. His humor was dry, so he took some thinking to figure out if he meant what he was saying or not. She quickly stood up and shrugged off the robe Vojjin had shoved onto her earlier as she heard them approach. She had been too absorbed in her own thoughts to listen in to what they had been saying. She wrinkled her nose as she smelled the robe and then smelled herself. She smelled like she was dead. Out of habit she reached for her pack to gather her soaps and other things she used when bathing. She sighed as she realized her pack was still on Aenyo. The raptor was just walking around outside, seeming to scare off the smaller raptors that inhabited the jungle.

As the door was opened and the three came inside she shrugged past them but was jerked back as once again as Vojjin grabbed her by the neck of her leather top. "Where ya goin'?" he questioned.

Keina glanced back at him. "Unlike some people I don't like staying smelly, so I was going to get my things from my pack that's on Aenyo."

She heard Cogar grunt and then a chair squeak as he sat down, but the orc said nothing. Lomali laughed softly. "Do you have something to change into? I know you will have to wash your armor."

Keina turned to look at Lomali. "Hm...I think I do, well I probably do, Dalnaar always sticks things in my pack that I don't need, he always worries too much." Her heart squeezed painfully again but she chose not to focus on it. She instead looked at Lomali's fine tailored robes. "Those are really pretty." And they were, they were a dark blue, the hems were embroidered with gold swirls.

Lomali smiled, her eyes seeming to glaze over as she remembered something. "This robe is one of the ones I owned while I was still alive."

Ah.

Keina's mouth opened in a small 'o' she quickly went to apologize but Lomali shook her head. "It's fine."

Keina ducked her head in a quick apologetic gesture and dodged around Vojjin once again. She didn't say anything to any of them as she headed outside in search of the raptor.

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Review? xD Oh my, I have a loooooot more to go on this x.x Oh it's lunch time! :D Yaaaaay. Ciao!


	9. Ralith

This is the longest thing I've written in a while. xD I hope you enjoy...though I haven't read through it yet. probably because ti's Friday...and I'm lazy. And the longess of this chapter is going to be an apolpgy for no updates for atleast a week :'D Sprink Break my lovelies, Spring break!

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"I can't believe he put this in here." Keina muttered as she arranged the folds of the wispy fabric around her. Dalnaar had placed a dress among her belongings, it wasn't a normal dress, it was one of the dresses that her people wore. It was clearly a dress that marked her as a night elf. She glared at her armor where it was drying, at least that would be dry by tomorrow. Until then she had to stay out of sight. She sighed and turned to look at her reflection in the water, the dress really set her features off, it was a mix between the color of her hair and some other shade of white. It seemed to make her pale pink skin glow, her hair was actually soft and shiny because she had washed it, her eyes were the same pupiless glowing silver. She leaned against the nearest tree and smoothed her hair out starting to braid it.

She had walked as far away from the small cottage as she could, she wouldn't put it past someone in their small group to peek at her. If she got caught out here, without her armor, clearly defenseless, she was doomed. If she changed forms in this dress it would be in shreds when she changed back. Her armor was enchanted to withstand the change and somehow be on her body when she changed back. She really didn't know how to describe it.

She was finished braiding her hair so she tied the end and threw the braid over her shoulder, now that her hair was braided it only went to the middle of her back instead of her lower back. Keina leaned down and hefted her heavy brown bag up and hauled it over her shoulder and started on her way back to the cottage.

A bloodcurdling scream cut through the peaceful silence.

Keina stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards the noise, her armor was in her bag, still wet, it was no use to her when it was wet. The scream came again but it sounded more terrified than angry. The night elf huffed and dropped her bag to the ground, rummaging through it until she came up with a knife that she had placed in there for the purpose of helping her cut into certain herbs. It wouldn't be much help, it was a small knife it fit perfectly into the palm of her hand and the blade was no more than three inches or so but it was much better than walking into danger with no defense, especially if she didn't want to be stuck in her animal form until her armor dried.

She may not like dresses, but she definitely didn't want to ruin the one Dalnaar had snuck into her pack. She left her pack there, it was better off there than going with her. She stood up from her crouch and stretched before picking her way through the jungle heading in the direction she was hearing the scream coming from.

It wasn't long until she found the owner of the scream; it would really be quite hard to miss. Keina tilted her head to the side as she studied the elf in front of her. It was one of the Sin'dorei. A child of blood. So in other words a blood elf. He was pressed up against a tree with several raptors surrounding him; it didn't seem like that wanted to eat him it was more like they were studying him, wondering how such a strange creature made its way into their nest.

She figured out it was a nest just from the fact that there were five raptors in total and the fact that there were several clutches of eggs in a structure that was obviously a nest. Her attention turned back to the blood elf, he was rather pretty, she would admit that much. His skin was darker then her own, ranging towards a more natural pink. His hair was long, she could see that much, it was a dark black and it was pulled back from his face in a ponytail, his eyes were a glowing pupiless green, if he weren't one of the Sin'dorei she would say that he was addicted to fel magic. The elf thrust his hands out in front of him in desperation and a sputtering of sparks erupted from his hands. There was no fireball, or anything bigger than a spark, all that he had managed to summon was just that.

Sparks.

Keina sighed, a worthless mage eh? These raptors were far too curious to eat the elf. She stepped out from her hiding place and made her way towards the elf. One of the raptors turned it's head, eyeing her. The raptor decided she was no threat and turned its attention back to the interesting quivering elf. The blood elf's eyes locked on Keina as she approached, his eyes seeming to get wider. Keina made a shooing motion towards the raptors and was actually surprised to see that they listened and headed away, a few headed back to their clutches where as others just headed off further into the jungle.

"You do realize it's a very sad thing when raptors deem that you are no threat." She said in Common, hoping the blood elf understood what she was saying, if not, then she would switch to Darnassian, her mother tongue was close to Thalassian, the language of the blood elves.

The elf's eyes narrowed in defiance, he had obviously understood her. "Those...beasts were just baffled by my awesome and god like power. That is all." He said his voice confident even though he had been screaming just moments ago.

Keina couldn't help the sudden laugh that burst from her. "Whatever you say cousin, let's at least get you out of this nest before they change their mind." Why was she managing to find all the oddballs? She eyed the mage warily, the least she could do was help him, but that didn't mean she trusted him, she didn't trust Lomali entirely either. Keina shoved her thoughts aside; this wasn't the time to be distracted.

She called him cousin because the two elven races were related somehow, though Keina hadn't bothered to research it any further than she had been forced to. Dalnaar had made her read the ancient texts so she would know about their past. Not that it was really needed; her people always speak of the past. Keina turned her gaze to the blood elf. "What are you doing all the way out here?" She asked.

The blood elf shot her a sideways glance as they walked and then turned his eyes back onto the what was in front of him. "Completing a few tasks given to me." He muttered.

Keina raised one long arched eyebrow in question. "Are you not able to use the arcane arts?"

She heard his teeth clack against one another as soon as he clenched his jaw. "That was just a fluke."

He probably was still a novice, she decided to not push on the subject of his chosen path any longer. "Well, what is your name?"

"Ralith, yours?" He kept glancing at her, questions seeming to be on the edge of his tongue, but he would never voice them. It was starting to irritate her.

"Keina Dawningstar, but call me Keina." She said with a small smile. "Feel free to ask questions, because trust me, when we get to the cottage, you'll either go under an interrogation...or run screaming from an angry troll." She quirked her head to the side in thought. Would Vojjin try to kill the blood elf? It was possible, being as he was a rogue, and he had been hesitant about Lomali tagging along, not all of his distrust was due to the fact that Lomali was dead.

The mage's eyes widened and his steps falter for a few moments before he regained himself and cleared his throat, putting back on his air of haughtiness. "My surname is Sunstrider," he began. "And I come from a long line of arcane users, I had recently finished my training and so I thought to explore the world, so here I am in Stranglethorn running away from raptors." He hesitated before continue to speak. "I can cast perfectly fine if I'm not scared or under pressure...if I'm scared or under pressure my spells seem to just...not work." He mumbled the last part and his cheeks flushed under her gaze.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," she murmured. "We all have frozen under those circumstances; there isn't an adventurer who hasn't. We all just needed a push to pull ourselves out of our fear." She grinned and clapped a hand on the smaller elf's shoulder. "Look we're almost there!"

Keina had regained her pack when she had offered to help the blood elf. She still couldn't believe Dalnaar had placed a dress among her luggage, and she couldn't believe that she had forgotten to pack more clothes than she did. When they approached the cottage she waved for Ralith to go in. "Go sit my Lomali, she won't eat you." She opened her pack and took out her still wet armor and started to hang it up on the clothesline that was attached to the cottage. "Ah, Lomali is the undead warlock. She's the reasonable one."

She heard Ralith swallow and she imagined he nodded as he opened the door and stepped inside. She heard angry shouts and a soft reasonable voice directed towards the poor mage.

"Wha' da hell are ya doin' just wanderin' in here!" Vojjin thundered.

She heard a stuttered reply from the blood elf, poor guy, she really shouldn't of made him go in there by himself. After a grunt from a shy orc, more raging from Vojjin, and some soothing from Lomali, thing quieted down inside.

It just happened to be the moment she finished hanging up her armor. She hefted her pack back up and walked into the cottage, surprised to see the door still open. She turned left was then in the main room where four pairs of eyes were trained on her. "Say nothing about the dress, or I will bite you, and don't eat the blood elf, please." she muttered, her mood suddenly worse for some odd reason. Even though she knew the cottage was safe, she couldn't fathom the reason why her hackles were suddenly rising on end. It felt like she was being watched, not by the four people in front of her, but by something else.

Something that made her insides turn into a tight knot.

"Keina?" a soft voice inquired from in front of her.

The night elf jerked back to what was happening before her; Lomali had gotten up and was standing in front of her, waving a hand in Keina's face. Keina hadn't realized her head had been turned towards the small window until Lomali had called her attention back.

"Ah...yes?" She questioned, trying to act normal.

Instead of answer her question Lomali just moved back to the chair she had been previously in.

"I asked why yah brought da blood elf ta da cottage." Vojjin said his amber eyes boring into her.

Keina straightened her posture and shook her uneasiness off. "Well, I saved him."

Vojjin turned his gaze to Ralith before turning them back to the druid, his tusks reflecting some of the fading sunlight from outside. "He told us dat much, but why did yah?"

Keina's brow furrowed in confusion. "Why not? He was obviously scared out of his mind, so I saved him and brought him back." Keina sighed and continued. "It's not like I'm going to bring back every person I find, I swear."

The troll said nothing, he just hefted himself up from his chair and walked past Keina and headed outside. Cogar sighed as well, the orc running hand over his bald head in frustration, his small tusks glinting in the fading sunlight as well. "He's worried is all; you'll have to forgive him for that. He hasn't always been so protective, in fact when he was younger he wouldn't have kept you Keina," the orc's voice sounded tired. "He would have gutted you and presented you as a trophy."

Keina shrugged. "When I was younger I would've killed him, and I wouldn't had presented him as a trophy." Keina hurried and claimed Vojjin's chair, loving the warmth that seeped through her body as soon as she sat down. "I also would've killed Lomali." She sighed before continuing on. "Ralith and Cogar I would've probably let go."

She shrugged again. "But that was when I was much younger and my hate was strong, though I would have killed Lomali also because her life disrupts the balance, but now I figure it doesn't matter if she lives as long as I eradicate everything else that disrupts the balance." She smiled apologetically at Lomali. "Sorry."

The warlock just shook her head. "No, it's fine, my life does disrupt the balance and I don't look any better in your people's eyes since I am a warlock and use demons and demonic energies."

Ralith glanced nervously between the two before his eyes settled on Keina. "Why are you not trying to kill us? What caused you to change? Every other Alliance member I've met has tried to take my head."

The druid smiled. "My _shan'do_1 has taught me to respect all life, why should their faction matter?" she sighed. "Too many people on each side are thinking of everyone as a trophy to be had. Thinking only of the glory." She waved her hand, warding off further questions. "I can see you two are tired, go up and take the beds." Cogar looked as if he was going to protest and Ralith still looked very uncomfortable, his haughtiness long gone. "It's fine, I am a night elf after all." She turned her attention to Lomali. "Well I'm going to go outside for a tiny bit." She watched Cogar and Ralith head up the stairs, usually she would've stuck around to see the argument over the bed that was up there, but she had to go find a certain troll.

Lomali nodded and waved her hand towards the door, her nose was back in a book. One of these days Keina was going to find out what the warlock was always reading. As soon as Keina stepped outside of the cottage her gaze was drawn to the jungle to her right, something still didn't feel right. She wrinkled her nose and headed off in the opposite direction, she was probably just being paranoid.

Keina worked her way back vines and large trees making sure to avoid anything that looked mysterious. She frowned after a few moments of walking, why was it this hard to find a certain troll?

It's probably because he's a rogue, she thought.

Really, what was she thinking coming out into the jungle attempting to find a rogue? Vojjin would be a master at blending into the shadows. Then again, so was she, but that didn't mean she was going to find him.

Hopefully he wanted her to find him.

The night elf hopped over another mysterious looking pile and landed on a tree root that was sprouting from the earth and arching over other roots and plant life. She wiggled her toes on the root as she stood there, marveling at the softness of the moss that covered the root beneath her. She didn't mind the jungle, she loved the feel of the nature around her, but she missed her forest.

She hopped down and continued on her when she was suddenly jerked back and pushed against a tree. She tilted her head back and stared into amber eyes. "You know, this is getting kind of old. Is this manhandle Keina day?" she asked.

Vojjin had hand clasped around Keina's neck, not enough force in it to choke, but just enough to keep her from getting away. The troll seemed to only growl in answer to her question before releasing his hold on her neck and slamming his fist against the rough bark of the tree beside her head. "Yah need ta quit bringin' people back!"

She widened her eyes innocently. "I swear, it won't happen again." Her voice was soft as she said this, and she meant what she was saying. Her eyes flicked to the group of tree behind Vojjin as the uneasy feeling washed over her again, just what was _it_?

She decided it was probably stress and that she was still being paranoid.

Vojjin grabbed her chin and roughly yanked her head to where she was staring at him. "Quit doin' dat!" he thundered.

Keina's brow furrowed in confusion. "Doing what?"

"Lookin' away." He muttered. "Does ol' Vojjin scare da elf now?" The troll was gazing down at her, his expression furious. Even if he did tower over her, and could probably kill her, he didn't scare her. He hadn't scared her yet, she'd been wary of him at first, but never scared.

She shook her head as best as she could while it was in his grip. "I'm not scared of you, I'm just…distracted." She didn't want to tell him that she was probably losing her mind, probably not the wisest thing to tell a troll who seemed to be on the verge of insanity himself.

Vojjin sighed and leaned away from her after a few moments. "'M sorry, I dun know what came ovah mah." He shook his head, his tusks glinting beneath the moonlight. She seemed to haven an obsession with his tusks. "I t'ought dat ya were afraid of mah, yah have been actin' strange."

Keina shook her head once more. "It's not you, trust me." She said.

Vojjin nodded and she couldn't help but reach out and grab one of his tusks. She ran a finger down the underside of the bone and watched out of the corner of her eye as Vojjin let out a shuddering breath. "I thought you couldn't feel these." She murmured.

"I can't," he muttered. "Yah seem ta have takin' a likin' ta mah tusks."

Keina shrugged, her cheeks darkening in embarrassment. "They're pretty." She muttered, her fingers still tracing over the bone, marveling at the cool smoothness, she glanced at Vojjin's face and his eyes were like molten metal. She let her hand drop and muttered an apology before turning around trying to focus her attention on anything other than him.

Vojjin laughed, a deep warming sound, and suddenly he was tracing the edges of her ear. "I've nevah been dis close ta a night elf before." He murmured. She shivered from the sensation of him tracing the shell of her ear.

"What is this?" She asked, her voice sounding breathy to her ears. "Revenge for me tracking your tusks?"

He laughed, and she could feel his laugh as it rumbled in his chest. "Aye, elf, it is." She knew he was grinning when he spoke next. "Dis seems like a new game, and dun worreh elf, we won't be stayin' in Stranglethorn for much longah, we'll be goin' to Felwood soon enough."

Felwood? They just left Kalimdor, and now they were going back? Then why were they in Sranglethorn to begin with? She was about to voice her question when suddenly Vojjin's touch left her and her pulled away. "I be lookin' for somet'in'." Then he was leaving her vision as he strode off back to the cabin.

Keina placed a hand on her chest, willing her heart to still. She was playing a dangerous game here, and it was one she was sure to lose. What started out as just simple fun was now dangerous fun. Her body slumped against the nearest thing to her, which happened to be a tree.

She was going to lose herself.

No, she thought smiling wryly, she's already lost herself.

* * *

:o New char. Who will be more involved in the next chapter. Annnnnnnnnd idk, I need to go read everything I planned for this xD XD So yeah, there wil probably be no mor eupdates for at least a week. Maybe less if I actually touch the computer during my break. No promises though. xD


	10. Raptors

Yay! Another chapter. xD And my Spring break is over x.x It's horrible. Though I did apply for a few jobs over the course of it. o-o So no gurantee on the nest update xD I might be working soon. :D

* * *

Keina refused to acknowledge the mass of bubbling black stuff in front of her as food. Cogar had gone back to Grom'gol and Vojjin had volunteered to cook. She now knew it was a very bad idea to let him cook anything. As if the food knew what she was thinking it bubbled up and released a very nasty odor. "Ugh," she turned to look at the rest of their group. Lomali was happily reading a book, and the night elf swore that today was the day she was going to find out what the warlock was reading.

Ralith, the newly added mage, was staring at the food as if it were some kind of demon. His mouth moved, as if he were going to speak, but nothing ever came out. The poor blood elf was probably traumatized.

Vojjin, the troll responsible for this abomination, actually looked proud of his creation. He hadn't bothered to try it yet, but he was stirring it with a wooden spoon in the small wooden bowl he had that was like the rest.

"Eat it." Keina said, she kept eyeing the spoon, waiting to see if the wood would melt from the horrid fumes. Her nose would never, ever recover.

She was sure she wouldn't either if she ate the bubbling mass of death.

Vojjin glanced at the untouched food in Keina's and Ralith's bowls. "Eh? It's food, yah eat it."

The trolls voice was a pleasant rumble to her ears. Keina shook her head. "This is not food, this is poison." Her voice was normal, holding no hint of the fear of the bubbling black goop that was in her bowl.

Vojjin frowned. "It is food," He glanced down at his own bowl. "It's good, trust mah."

Keina laughed. "Oh I trust you on many things, but this is not one of them." She glanced at his untouched bowl as well. "I'll eat, if I see you eat it."

The rogue shrugged and lifted the a spoonful of the bubbling abomination to his mouth, he swallowed, and ate some more.

Keina shook her head in disbelief. "How the hell are you still alive?"

Vojjin swallowed and looked at her in confusion. "Huh? It's good, now eat."

The druid shook her head and pushed the bowl away from her. "I have no idea how you think this is edible, and I definitely do not know how you're still alive after eating that." She motioned towards her untouched food. "This, is not edible for ordinary people."

Vojjin began to protest but Keina quickly pointed to Ralith. "Look! He's now traumatized because of this!" She slumped back in her chair and sighed. "You're trying to starve me to death aren't you," She grumbled. "Because it's working."

Lomali chose this moment to put her book down and caught sight of what was happening. She stared at the bubbling mass of death before reaching over and taking Keina's spoon and experimentally poking the contents of the bowl. "If I ate this, I'm sure it would kill me." That was saying something being as the warlock was undead.

Keina got up from her chair. "I might as well go find something, and make something, because Cogar won't be back for quite sometime, and _someone_ can't cook." She groaned softly as her back popped as she stood up. She seemed to be falling apart lately.

Vojjin stood up as well, looking irritated. "Fine, if da elf wants to make food, than ol' Vojjin will be goin' wit yah."

Keina looked at him suspiciously but agreed anyway, the druid had put on her clean armor earlier that morning, she was glad to be back in it. It was much more familiar to her than a dress. She turned to Ralith and Lomali, she didn't have to say anything though.

Lomali caught her eye and only nodded, signaling that the bubbling abomination of death would be gone by the time the two got back.

Keina pushed the door of their small dwelling open the wood smooth against the palm of her hand. "Remind me to never let you cook again."

Vojjin humphed and grumbled, "Fine, no one ever seems ta like mah cookin' anyway."

She could definitely see why.

"Mmm." she turned in a small circle in the clearing they had wandered into. "What's edible around here..."

Vojjin eyed her in disbelief. "Yah dun eat mah food, and yah have no idea what's edible?" He shook his head and muttered something in Zandali.

Keina frowned. "I'm sure I can find something, If I had eaten what you had cooked, I would be dead right now." One of these days she was also going to learn Zandali, along with Orcish. Well, she knew a little Orcish, Cogar and Lomali had been nice enough to attempt to teach the druid, it was going well so far.

She nibbled on the inside of her cheek and considered her option for food. There were raptor eggs (she never liked the taste of raptor and she wasn't entirely sure Vojjin would be happy if she was eating Aenyo's cousin, aunt, or something like that.) a few edible plants, she could sneak into a few hostile camps and steal what had, she could also try to make it to an Alliance encampment and get food from there.

But that would be a bad idea, especially if Vojjin followed her in, or someone followed her back. Her stomach gave a loud grumble interrupting her thoughts. She quirked her head to the side. "How do you feel about raptor eggs?"

The troll grinned. "It'll be fun gettin' 'em."

She nodded, it was normally a snatch and run thing, but knowing her luck she'd trip, break the eggs, and become raptor food. She didn't exactly want to become food, she just wanted to eat food.

The two of them made their way through the jungle keeping themselves alert for the screeches of raptors. They just had to find a nest, and Keina had forgotten where she had found Ralith. She was excited for this, snatching raptor eggs seemed like fun, she hadn't done it before, but it was good to experience new things, right?

Even if there was possibility of her getting eaten.

She turned her head towards Vojjin as the two walked. "You have done this before, right?" she asked.

Vojjin laughed, a deep laugh that she loved. "Of course! Ol' Vojjin be a troll!" he grinned. "I was born in Stranglethorn, so dis place, dis jungle, be where I was raised. As a child I would do dis all da time wit' mah friends."

She tilted her head back and took in the towering trees, the thick jungle vines tapering from limb to limb, the moss growing at the base of the thick trunks. "This is your home...? Is that why we came to Stranglethorn?"

He nodded. "Not many of mah people be here anymore, a few stayed in the small village, most of dem be in Sen'jin."

"It's a good jungle." She murmured. "At least you still have your home, this jungle will remain here for a long, long time. Even if it is being fought over by the two factions." She smiled wryly. "Much like my home." She sighed and flipped a few strands of her white hair out of her face, she really needed to bind it.

Vojjin shrugged. "I moved ta Sen'jin." he sighed and continued. "Where is yer home, elf?"

Keina laughed softly, it was almost bitter. "I was born in Ashenvale, but now my home is in Darnassus." She had a feeling they had discussed this before, but she shrugged it off. The two stopped and looked around, still searching for a raptors nest. There weren't many game animals in a jungle, so giving up on raptor eggs and going after a stag wasn't an option.

As Vojjin was crouching and looking at tracks in the dirt, Keina was tracing the rough bark of a huge tree next her. "Did you know," she started. "Everything is alive, even the rocks deep beneath our feet." She closed her eyes and nearly gave herself to the nature, she forced them open, if she gave herself to the nature she would most likely end up slipping into the Emerald Dream, and that was safe for no druid nowadays, being as many were trapped in there, unable to wake fro mthe dream.

Vojjin laughed. "How do yah know dis, elf? Do yah talk ta da rocks?" he questioned.

It was Keina's turn to laugh. "I used to, lately though I've been neglecting my duties." She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "There's been no time to convene with nature." But that wasn't the truth, the truth was that she was afraid. Afraid of what she would find if she did convene with nature, the plants would whisper things, not words, but emotions.

She tilted her head to the side suddenly, trying to catch the sound she had just heard. It was soft, and it was a chirp. Well more of a screech than a chirp. She pointed to the right, through a thick group of trees. "Through there."

Vojjin shook his head. "Asked da plants did yah?"

She shook her head as well, a smile playing at her lips. "I listened."

Both of them fought their way through the thick branches that seemed to leave no space to slip through. The two started to come to the end of it, seeing a clear space through the branches. "Get ready to grab and run." Keina murmured to Vojjin. With all the noise the two had made when pushing through the branches there was no way that the raptors didn't they know that the two were there.

Vojjin nodded, his tucks catching a few rays of sunlight, the bone seemed to almost glow in places. She really did like those tusks...

She shook her head, clearing her thoughts as Vojjin burst forward into the clearing, Keina right behind him. The raptors raised their heads. There were four raptors in total, one of them was a bright orange, the other three a dark green. The orange one screeched and lunged for Vojjin, the rogue quickly stepped out of the way of the raptors attack. A grin on his lips, he was enjoying himself.

Keina was sadly left to the attention of the three green raptors. They chattered among themselves, their reptilian eyes never leaving the druid. Their green scales flickered between turquoise in the dark green the scale actually was as they moved beneath the rays of sunlight. One lunged at the night elf and she twisted away. The other two joined in, screeching and chattering as they lunged. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the orange raptor (who was much bigger than these three green ones, must be the male.) leap at Vojjin, the two extended claws on the raptors feet aimed for the rogues chest. Vojjin quickly drew a dagger from his side and deflected the beast's claws, the sound of steel meeting bone sounding throughout th small clearing. The females stopped and suddenly raced towards Vojjin.

Keina cursed and took the chance to dive and grab one large raptor egg, she winced as the momentum of her dive made her land to hard on the ground. The harsh earth digging into her side, a few twig managed to slip beneath her armor and jab into her skin. She quickly got up and ran to assist Vojjin, the troll somehow managing to keep four raptors off of him. Keina's feet felt light as she dived between a small space between the orange male and one of the green females. She managed to land a little past Vojjin and yanked the troll back by the neck of his armor. "Got it, we're going." She said as she stepped into the branches still holding onto his armor.

Vojjin grunted and pushed her further into the mesh of tree as an angry screech sounded and the deafening screech of snapping wood.

The two made it out of the branches and didn't stop running until they were almost back to the cabin, or cottage, whatever it was called. Keina suddenly forced him to stop. She looked him over from head to toe searching for any injury. "You're not hurt are you?" Her voice sounded breathless, adrenaline was still running through her veins, her heart beating against her ribcage.

He grinned, flashing the whiteness of his sharp teeth for a few seconds. "Yah can only heal minor injuries, remembah?"

She frowned at him. "That's not answering my question!" It didn't matter that her healing magic only went so far, she did have knowledge in first aid. Every adventurer did.

He shook his head, his flaming red braided hair swinging behind him as he did. "No, Ol' Vojjin be fine, how 'bout yah, elf?"

Keina remembered the few twigs that managed to get beneath her armor, she sighed and held the child sized egg out to him. "Hold that please."

He took the egg, and turned it around, looking at the flecks of brown sprinkled over the yellow shell. Keina sighed and peeled chest armor off, baring the bandages she used to bind herself. A few of the twigs had had sharp ends and had dug into her skin, drawing blood. She sighed once more as she picked the few sharp ends that were still sticking into her side out. Her fingers pressed into the pale pink of her skin, drawing the edges of the tiny wounds apart, looking for anymore splinters. She shrugged and wiped the few droplets of blood off of her skin.

She was being stared at.

She glanced up to meet the amber gaze of Vojjin, he was staring at her, at her bared skin. He seemed to be drinking the sight in. She felt heat rush to her cheeks, they were probably darkening in embarrassment. "What?" She asked.

Vojjin smirked. "Da elf has no modesty."

She scoffed. "Nothing is bared that is indecent." She patted the center of her stomach, trying to forget that her Common had just sounded weird, she had probably worded it wrong again, even after years of knowing and speaking the language she still slipped up. "This is just my stomach, my sides, and my back if I turn around, nothing else." Though, as she was saying this she slipped her chest armor back on, retying and tightening the leather ties on the sides.

She glanced back to Vojin to see him studying the egg again. "We should be gettin' back ta da cottage now."

Keina nodded, her stomach grumbling in the comfortable silence between the two. Vojjin only chuckled. "Sorry fer feedin' yah dat stuff dis mornin'."

The druid turned her head towards the troll in shock, had he actually apologized? She just knew the world was going to end. She quickly glanced for any signs of an apocalypse. She found none. Her eyes narrowed at him. "Do you mean it?"

He scoffed. "Of course I do! Ol' Vojjin doesn't apologize ta just anyone." He grumbled the last part and quickened his pace and widened his stride. Reaching the cottage before she did, already heading inside with the raptor egg.

Keina quickened her pace as well, hoping desperately that the troll wasn't going to attempt to cook the egg. She had a feeling that he could turn anything, even the simplest of things, into that bubbling slop again. She had reached the wooden door and was about to open it when she was yanked away and dragged to the side of the house. She started to say something but a large hand was pressed against her mouth. She managed to turn enough to catch a glimpse of her captor.

Glowing green eyes, long blonde hair, fancy mage robes...

It was Ralith.

She lifted a brow and question, and the mage lifted a finger to his lips, signaling her to stay quiet. When she nodded in agreement the mage lifted his hand from her mouth and began to speak in a low whisper. "A few soldiers from Grom'gol are inside, they are asking questions, wondering if there has been any Alliance around here recently. A goblin on the zeppelin you guys had arrived on had snitched to the guards for money." his voice was still low as he continued. "Cogar and Lomali have been doing their best at convincing the guards no member of the Alliance had stepped foot here, Vojjin is well...being Vojjin."

That meant the troll was answering questions with questions or just staying silent.

Ralith sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he did. "The guards have an Alliance captive with them as well, a young human female."

Keina once again lifted a brow in question, unease settling in the pit of her stomach.

Ralith began talking again. "She is young, no more than twenty-four of their human years, she has obviously dyed her hair because it's blue, and she has a foul mouth."

The druids eyes widened.

It couldn't be.

She jerked from Ralith's grasp, the guards had Asanri. Ralith grabbed her once again, taking in Keina's wide eyes. "You know her don't you."

Keina quickly nodded, she needed to come up with a plan to rescue Asanri, but she didn't have the time for it. Most of the Horde hated the Alliance with a passion, especially the humans. She didn't have the time for a plan, they wouldn't keep Asanri a prisoner for long, they would kill her soon. Keina once again yanked away from him only to be yanked back. "We'll come up with something, and quick." Ralith whispered. "I can pay my debt back to you now, it shouldn't be too hard to get a human back from two guards when there are three members of the Horde on your side, Keina."

Keina kept quiet, knowing it wouldn't be wise for her to speak. If she was loud enough Asanri would hear her voice and react to it, showing the guards that there was indeed another member of the Alliance in this area. She looked back to the blood elf mage, she prayed to Elune that they could rescue Asanri.

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As always, review! :o And and I didn't proof read this. x.x I'm sorry, I didn't feel like reading ove rit by the time I finished. xD This wasn't quite as long as the last chapter either. Which is sad.


	11. Asanri

Well, here's the next chapter! It hasn't been edited yet, I mean I do try to do it myself, buuuut I never get it all. And my beta is busy xD So once she does all that awesome stuff of fixing my mistakes, and telling me what doesn't make sense, etc. I shall replace this one, with that one. I should be updating every Friday. xD

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Ralith slipped back down to where Keina was drawing things in the dirt with a stick and then watching as the night elf ended up furiously erasing them, the mage had previously been peeking (very stealthily) into a small window of the cottage-house thing. "She's fine, she just looks irritated." Ralith murmured to the irritated druid. He took in the barely visible plans that had been inscribed into the dirt, trying to make sense of the bits and pieces he could make out. "Is her hair naturally blue?" he questioned, completely giving up on the plans inscribed in the dirt.

Keina shook her head. "No, it's hair dye." Asanri had thought it would be a wonderful idea to dye her hair blue, it didn't look bad on the shadow priest, but the dye was a pain in the ass to get. Keina made a frustrated sound and dropped her head into her hands. "I can't come up with plans! That's just not an area I'm good in..." She looked over to the mage hopefully.

Ralith held up his hands and shook his head. "You found me in a raptors nest, that wasn't the best plan." the mage admitted.

The druid huffed, she placed her ear against the wood of the cottage and tried her best to hear what was going on inside, she couldn't make out what they were saying, she couldn't even make out the tone of their voices. She was yanked back from the cottage by Ralith, the blood elf bent down near her ear. "We'll wing it, it's only two guards." he whispered.

Keina nodded, her stomach clenching into worried knots, this couldn't go too bad, could it?

Ralith stood up, brushed some dirt off the front of his finely tailored robes and strided towards the cottage, he roughly pushed the door open causing it to bang harshly on the inside. Keina bit the inside of her cheek harshly as she tried to think of something to do. She cursed under her breath and quickly changed into her cat self, she could at least be moderately stealthy in this form. She crept closer the door to catch what they were saying.

Ralith let out a haughty laugh. "What are these guards doing in _my_ cottage?"

Keina expected at least Vojjin to pipe up and disagree, but surprisingly the rogue said nothing, nor did the others.

The guard responded in orcish, sounding confused and sluggish. It took Keina a few moments to realise that Ralith was speaking in Thalassian. There was the sound of a chair scraping against the floor as it was pulled out, a muffled grunt and then Ralith was back speaking. "I am a great mage! I am Ralith!" he was still speaking in Thalassian, why was he speaking in Thalassian?

Keina made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat, did he even realize he was speaking Thalassian? He really was bad at making plans. Screw it, she thought, she'd do things as she's always done. She dug her claws into the hard dirt beneath her paws and propelled herself forward into the cabin, taking down the nearest figure to her.

Which happened to be a very surprised troll. Keina stared incredulously at troll beneath her. Vojjin's surprise didn't last long before he was sitting up and pushing her off of him. "Damn heavy elf." He muttered.

Keina huffed but looked around the room until her gaze landed on two tied up orcs. Well...when did that happened? And if they were tied up, where was Asanri? And if it had been like this when Ralith had charged in (which she doubted, this probably happened in the moments he was outside and had finished when he had stepped inside), then why had he spoken...?

She turned her attention to the blood elf who was refusing to meet her gaze, he really was useless wasn't he, but Keina was also useless when it came to these sort of things, especially when she didn't want to include the rest of the group. The last thing she wanted was to get all of them marked as traitors. Keina shook her head and padded across the wooden floor towards the very comfy looking window seat (she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before), her hopes of literally taking a catnap on those fluffy cushions with the sun warming her was dashed as a body tackled her to the ground screaming indecipherable stuff into her ear.

The druid managed to turn her head enough to catch a glimpse of the blue hair that covered the head buried into her side. The shadow priestess's body was shaking with the sobs erupting from her. Asanri's fingers dug into Keina's fur, grasping the the light strands as if she was hanging on for dear life.

Keina's stomach curled itself into to knots once again, the earlier feeling of dread was gone just to be replaced with hopelessness, the elf had no idea what to do in situation such as these. The snapping and rearranging of bones was the only sign the elf had decided to change back into her natural form. Keina nearly toppled over from her sitting position from the unsuspected weight of the priestess. Asanri was now crying into Keina's stomach, her arms locked around the elfs waist. Keina awkwardly patted Asanri on the back, after a few moments Keina relaxed and laid one arm across Asanri's back in a reassuring embrace. With her free hand she started to stroke Asanri's head, murmuring soft words of reassurance.

For a few moments the weight of the danger she would be putting them all in had been lifted from her shoulders just by the relief of seeing her friend.

The sweet moment was interrupted by the scrape of a chair against the wooden floor as Vojjin settled himself down, his gaze locked on the two members of the Alliance. "Now dat dis sweet moment is endin', we need ta focus on da important matters."

Lomali had been seated the entire time, just watching everything in silence. Ralith had just been leaning against one the walls, his hands fisted at his sides, not quite sure what to do. Vojjin had spoke in Common, Asanri had quieted down by the time he had spoken, but the human wasn't willing to move from her spot on Keina.

Keina looked towards Vojjin, trying to force herself not to take in all the details about him. She couldn't help but notice how his presence managed to fill the room, it was reassuring. He made her feel safe. She forced her thoughts to the present. "What matters would those be?" She questioned.

Vojjin jerked his head towards the human. "How did da human find us?"

Keina was curious as well, she nudged Asanri gently, the human peeked up, her blue hair falling into her face, the only thing visible was her left eye, the brown eye just staring at the elf's face, seeming to memorize everything. Asanri finally grumbled something intelligible and sat up, positioning herself on Keina's right. The young priestess smoothed her hair and pulled it back into a low ponytail. "There were rumors, and I listened to all of them. The only one that actually sounded like Keina had something to do with a Horde zeppelin, I had been in the rebel camp when I heard it." She drew her legs up to her chest, settling her head on her knees and stared at everyone in the room aside from the elf on her left. "Being as there is only one zeppelin in Stranglethorn, I came here, got caught, and then that troll saved me."

Vojjin had done all of that to the guards? In just a few small moments? The rogue was stronger than she had thought. Keina turned her gaze back to Asanri. "How about everything else? You were in Darnassus when I accepted my quest, how did everyone else take it?"

Asanri met Keina's gaze. "I have questions as well, but I'll answer yours first. " The human glanced at the huge troll once more, she was confused, and honestly just a tad afraid, she turned her gaze to the floor, taking in all the stains, scrapes, and any other detail she could find as she began to speak. "It took seven days for your people to believe you were missing, and seven more to think you dead, many felt the loss of your death, but no one mourned you more than Dalnaar, not even I."

She buried her face into her knees, her voice catching. "It devastated him, he seemed like an empty shell. An empty shell that breathed, ate, and drank when required. The rest of the night elves couldn't quite grasp his reaction, because of the whole 'everyone raises a child' thing. It was too 'human' for them to grasp." Asanri was being rather clean with her language, she usually cursed every other word. "He couldn't believe you were dead, and it made it much worse for him when the search party he had managed to gather together found Issa and there was no sign of you."

She took a deep breath trying to steady herself before continuing on. "That was the moment he believed you were dead, out of all of the night elves, Dalnaar and you were the ones most open to the outside world. You two were the closest to being your own family." She shook her head at the last statement. "No, you two are family. I went off on my own looking for you, I couldn't believe it. You aren't exactly the easiest to kill even though you're rather useless until it counts." She smiled apologetically at Keina. "It's true though, but now I can tell Dalnaar that you're alive." Asanri's face turned serious. "Now it's time for you to answer my questions."

Keina nodded. "Go on, ask away." she said.

Asanri glanced to Vojjin once again. "What the hell happened out there?"

The night elf grinned. "Well, you see, there was a certain lack of water in my bags, and I ended up getting kidnapped by a feisty troll, a shy orc, and a calm tauren then I decided to tag along because it looked like fun, couldn't find Issa, I'm still technically a hostage, by the way." She added as she glanced at Vojjin. "And, well, it's just been a series of very unexpected yet fun events. I'm sorry for not sending some note or something to tell you that I was alive. I couldn't chance it." Or so she told herself. No, she thought, she really couldn't chance it. Dalnaar would understand, with some convincing so would Asanri, but the rest?

The rest of them wouldn't understand. They would deem her a traitor, probably kill her after casting her out. And if the humans got wind of this? Her death would be a sure thing. But so would the rest of them. In this long feud between the factions there were thousands of people who would sneer, and do horrible things to the one who has 'corrupted' themselves. Lowered themselves to sleep with the dogs.

They were all playing a dangerous game for now, not everything would be fun, and there was sure to be more blood and tears. These happy times would begin to fade into nothing but a distant memory replaced by fresh ones of grief and rage. Keina's mind delved into happenings of the past. her fingers clenched into the wood beneath them, her nails digging in leaving crescent shaped marks.

It was rage, always rage.

The memory was rising fast into her mind, pushing its way past her mental blocks, she didn't want to remember but she could already taste the cold metallic tang in her mouth, feel the hotness of the rage as it built within her. Blinded her. She could hear the screams, feel the blood soaking into her skin, she heard her own voice calling out.

Searching.

Always searching.

Flames danced across her vision, and she drew her legs up burying her face into her knees, not caring if she assumed the same pose as Asanri, she couldn't see what was in the room. She didn't see the faces of her friends, if she looked up she knew she would see the faces of people long dead. She would see a memory that has haunted her for ages, a memory she had buried deep within her mind.

She felt a soft touch on her arm, and an angry shout as she was roughly hauled up and slammed against the nearest wall. The pain and the shock that reverberated through her body brought her mind back to the present, the scent of smoke lingering in her nose the only hint of what she had remembered. She blinked her eyes to refocus her gaze, Vojjin had been the one to slam her up against the wall, the angry shout had been Asanri's, the priestess was clawing at the arm Vojjin was using to hold her up against the wall.

Most would think Asanri could utter a few words and make him let go, but she wasn't exactly skilled in the shadow arts yet, she got lucky a few times and so the humans had let her go about her way. Asanri was even more useless than Keina was most of the time.

Keina stared up at Vojjin's face, she felt numb on the inside. It had been awhile since she had gone into a state like this. She thought she had buried such thoughts, such memories a long, long time ago.

Obviously she was wrong.

Keina forced a smile onto her face. "You seem to have this habit of pushing me up against things." She said, her voice sounded weak to her ears.

Vojjin's expression turned furious, it was so easy to set this troll off, she knew it wasn't her words that had brought his wrath. It was how fast her mood changed, it surprised her and she had no idea why it had enraged him.

"Don't change da subject," he muttered "What da hell just happened?!"

She shrugged, feigning innocence. "No idea, maybe I'm just tired." Hopefully he would buy it, she really didn't want to talk about this. She just wanted to ignore it, never come back to this situation ever again, she had other things to worry about.

Vojjin's eyes tightened with anger, he was actually trying to hold his anger in check. "I know dat expression, dat fear in da eyes." He lowered her to the ground. "Quit it wit' all dese fake smiles, it won't make yah weak if yah cry." He jerked his head quickly to the rest of the people in the room. "We all have our regrets, we all have a memory dat won't leave, a memory dat holds da worst version of ourselves." He hesitated before ruffling her hair gently.

Keina nodded and smiled gratefully at him. "It's so strange to hear you speak that much." She looked towards Asanri and suddenly made up her mind. "I've just decided something."

Vojjin and the rest of the group turned their gaze back to the night elf. Keina drew in a shaky breath and began to speak. "I need to get Asanri back to Stormwind and then I'll go back to Darnassus, I'll catch up with you in Felwood." Her voice quieted a little. "That's if...you don't mind of course."

The troll ruffled her hair once more. "Do what yah need ta." He murmured before turning away from her, his broad shoulders filling her vision and then leaving it as he headed outside. Asanri took the trolls disappearance as a chance and quickly latched onto to the night elf "We have things to talk about." the human whispered.

Keina inwardly groaned at the glint in Asanri's eyes, she never liked that glint. It was a glint that always meant talking, not just any talking, but a talk about men. Since Keina never bothered with men there wasn't much to talk about, it was usually Asanri rambling on about some guy she met. The night elf shot a desperate look to the mage and warlock that now seemed intensely absorbed into something else.

Lomali was still reading her book and Ralith was staring at a wall...

Keina still wasn't back to her usual self, the dread and sorrow that had come with the memory was still lingering within her, she felt exhausted. She honestly needed time to think, and Darnassus would give her that time. She was scared, for more reason than one. As Asanri was dragging her to some secluded place outside of the cottage-house thing a chilling feeling settled over the druid, her senses told her something was off. She shook the feeling off, it was the same feeling from when they had first arrived, she was being paranoid again.

Asanri had dragged her outside and stopped in front of the area where the cottage-house thing met the jungle. Keina hesitated and decided to stay quiet, she knew she was about to get yelled. She felt very much like a nervous child at the moment.

Asanri flicked a few stray strands of blue hair out of her eyes, she gazed at Keina with furious yet grief stricken eyes. "You were alive this entire time...?" She asked, her voice a quiet whisper.

Keina only nodded, whatever words she could have said were stuck in her throat. She knew she should have sent some sign that she was alive, and she should probably explain that in the beginning she was a hostage, not a friend to Vojjin.

The priestess hissed out air as she began to talk. "How _could_ you?" She whispered furiously, she was keeping her voice lowered so she wouldn't bring the attention of the others. "I _mourned_ you. By the Gods, how I mourned you." She stepped forward and raised a fisted hand as if to hit the druid, but it dropped back to her side. "The news of your death was a shock, I couldn't breathe when I heard it." She smiled grimly, and quickly rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes trying not to cry. "You should have seen Dalnaar, I've never seen one of your people cry, but he did." She refused to look at Keina now. "He roared like a beast that was in pain, so much pain. He refused to leave your grave, and once we managed to get him away from there he headed to your home in Darnassus." She sighed. "He refused to believe you were dead and wouldn't let anyone pack up your belongings, so many tried to convince him that you were gone, but he firmly believed that if there wasn't a body to give back to the Earth then you weren't dead." The priestess finally met Keina's eyes. "Now I see that he was right." Her expression turned furious. "He was fucking right." She muttered angrily, she had slipped back into her habit of using foul language.

Keina just stood there letting her friend talk, there was nothing Keina could say to curb Asanri's anger. The night elf deserved it.

Asanri was shaking with anger, the human lunged forward. Keina had thought she was going to be shoved, punched, scratched, anything of that sort, but she didn't expect the girl to wrap her arms around the druid's waist and drag both of them down to the ground, Asanri sobbing into Keina's stomach the entire time. Keina let the girl sob out her anger and her grief, not caring if a stone was digging into her back. Soon the girls sobs quieted as she fell asleep. Keina smoothed Asanri's hair almost as if she were petting a cat. Asanri was so young, yet considered an adult in the human world. It always surprised the night elf how the humans could adapt so easily to everything. Keina sighed as she moved, putt and arm underneath Asanri's back and legs, hefting the girl up. Keina staggered slightly, her body not used to the extra weight. Asanri had gained some weight since the last time she had seen her, she smiled to herself. Must have been too many dumplings. The night elves sold dumplings around the time of the Lunar festival, but occasionally someone would make a few batches and sell them, they sold quick.

Keina's stomach grumbled at the thought of food, especially her peoples. She missed the dumplings, the buns that were filled with meat or rice, she even missed the bittersweet taste of moonberry juice.

Keina shoved the door open with her shoulder and set the priestess down on the nearest thing, which happened to be a rather comfy chair. Lomali looked up from her book, the light from the candle that the warlock had lit flickered across her pale face. "I'll look after the girl." She murmured, "Go say goodbye to that idiot of troll, then you can say goodbye to the rest of us in the morning." She smiled and made a shooing motion with her hand.

Keina nodded and smiled gratefully, turning on her heel and heading back outside. She was positive he would be in the same place as last time. Her pace picked up and soon she was running, leaping over raised roots, ducking under branches. Her senses were focused on picking up signs of him. She didn't care that the sun was dropping fast behind her, she didn't stop to wonder where her day had gone, she kept going and soon she found him.

He was sitting on a large stone boulder, gnawing on a piece of jerky. He must have stolen the jerky from those two guards that were still tied up back in the cottage-house thing. There was a small lake in front of the boulder, he was watching the reflection of the fading sun. The orange glow blending with the blue of the lake. The area really was beautiful, and the druid was surprised no one had tried to build anything on its banks.

Vojjin made no sign of hearing her as she walked towards him, but she knew he did, he always did. She pulled herself up onto the boulder next to him. "Jerky." She stated, holding her hand out in front of him, her gaze locked on the pond and their reflections. She watched as his reflection smiled and started to rummage through a small brown sack and came out with a piece of jerky, he laid the meat in her hand.

"It's harder than it's suppose ta be, don't break yah teeth." He mumbled around the piece of jerky in his own mouth.

She said nothing for a few small moments, her eyes taking in the sight of their reflections. It was quite weird to see herself sitting next to him. He dwarfed her. Vojjin was in his usual gear, his red hair pulled back into the same braid as usual. His face was smooth and relaxed, his tusks as always were reflecting light. He was huge as most trolls were, and she found him handsome.

Keina stared at her reflection next, her silver eyes staring back at her, her pale face was framed by her long white hair, she hadn't bothered to pull it back lately. The paleness of her skin set off the markings on her face, she lifted one of her hands and traced the claw marks on the left side of her face, they had tattooed them on both sides. Her ears, as always, were very visible.

Vojjin was staring at them too. "How did yah get dem?" he asked.

Keina smiled and turned her head, meeting his eyes. "I got them when I reached adulthood, they're a right of passage."

He nodded and went back to chewing on jerky.

Keina bit into the piece he had given her, it was harder than it was supposed to be, but it didn't bother her, she was able to eat it.

She felt Vojjin's eyes on her and she turned her head to meet his incredulous expression, he motioned towards the piece of jerky she was chewing on. She swallowed what was in her mouth and placed the jerky on her leg. She opened her mouth and pointed to her elongated canines. "All night elves have these." She murmured, she closed her mouth and went back to the piece of jerky.

Vojjin nodded his head, his attention recaptured by the scenery. The two stayed in a comfortable silence for what seemed like a long time before Vojjin spoke up. "Yah better meet mah in Felwood." His mumbled. His voice was almost too low to hear.

Keina grinned at his words. "Of course I will, I never break my word." Honor was very important to her. She sighed and pushed herself up to where she was standing, she needed to get back and pack the few things she still had. Vojjin had his head turned away from her, staring at something she didn't feel like looking for. She grabbed his tusks and pulled his head around to face her, she leaned down and stopped when her nose was nearly touching his. She loved the way his eyes darkened as she did. "You stay alive." She murmured, she grinned and pulled away heading back to the cottage-house thing. "Cya around!" She said while walking away, waving a hand in the air as her farewell.

The night passed by rather quickly and Keina found herself curled up on the floor when she woke up. She groaned and lifted an arm to cover her eyes from the intruding sunlight. She missed her old sleeping schedule. She missed sleeping in the day and waking at night. She harrumphed and sat up, just barely being able to make out the room around her. She sighed, hefted her pack up and made her way to everyone else in the other room, she could already hear their voices. When she entered the room all of the talking ceased and four pairs of eyes met her, she noticed Asanri wasn't among them.

Lomali waved her hand, dismissing the silent question. "The human is outside saddling her mount," she stood up and grabbed a book that had been by her side the entire time and walked over to the druid, holding it out to her. "This is a gift from me, maybe the words inside will help you." The warlock said softly, her pale face relaxing into a soft expression. "And," she continued "Hopefully the next time I see you I won't be anymore rotted than I already am." She frowned at her bones that were jutting through the fabric here and there. "Being dead is so tedious." she murmured to herself. The warlock once again settled herself down in the chair.

Keina shook her head, suddenly at a loss of words. Before she could speak the other three had lined up in front of her, Ralith in front.

The blood elf didn't say anything for a few moments before he shoved a covered package in her face. "It was nice meeting you, and you better show up in Felwood, or I swear I'll...I'll blast you to death!" This entire sentence was rushed and mumbled and Keina had to strain to hear it. She smiled and shook her head. "Don't run into anymore raptors." She said in response, accepting his gift.

She really did need to get them gifts when she went back to Darnassus. Ralith stepped back and hurriedly walked over to the spot he had been in previously. Cogar was next, he raised a huge hand and tapped the bone choker that he and Malar had previously made. "That is still my gift to you," he grinned and pulled her into a quick hug. Keina was surprised by the sudden show of affection from the shy orc, but nonetheless she hugged him back. "Take care." He said, and pulled away, motioning the uncomfortable looking troll forward. As Cogar stepped back and headed to his seat, Vojjin stepped forward, he was standing up straight instead of in his usual slouch. He towered over her.

"Here," He mumbled as he dragged out a piece of jewelry from one of the small packs at his waist. Keina had braided her hair before she had come down so he had no trouble accessing the choker at her neck. He opened the hinge on the necklace he had brought out and close it as soon as he placed it around the choker. The chain of the new piece hooked into place with the choker. She reached a hand up and felt the choker, her eyes widened as she felt the small prongs that the necklace had fit into perfectly, she traced the chain until she came to the small 'v' the necklace made as it hung just below the place her neck met her chest.

She glanced down and smiled as she saw what was hanging from the necklace, it was a fang. A cat fang. "What type of cat was this?" She asked, fingering the fang.

Vojjin shrugged. "Just a tiger." he mumbled, his head ducked in an embarrassed way.

She grinned at him. "Thank you." Her throat tightened as her heart ached. She didn't want to leave these people. But she did have to go back. She pushed down her nervousness and acted on impulse as she leapt forward, wrapping her arms around his waist in a hug. "Thank you..." She whispered. She wanted to say the two words over and over again but time wasn't on her side.

Time had never been on her side.

Vojjin stood there shocked but soon his body relaxed and he hugged her back. He strong arms holding her against him as gentle as possible. Reluctantly Keina pulled back and waved and mumbled goodbye as she raced out the door, leaving them all staring at the spot where she had been.

Keina met Asanri at a large draft horse, the horse could carry them both, and she just wanted to get as far from this place as she could. She was afraid she would change her mind and turn back.

Asanri didn't say anything when she caught the look on Keina's face, all she did was get up on the horse and hooked Keina's pack to the saddle. Keina had no troubles getting up on the large draft horse, soon the two Alliance members had found their way to a back road and were on their way to the Rebel Camp to buy a gryphon to fly to Stormwind with.

Keina didn't look back once, she just looked at the scenery ahead of her and planned what she would do once she reached Darnassus.

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*cough* Don't hate me? Annnnnd Review, as always. xDD


	12. Stormwind

A day earlier than expected xD and well, I suppose this could be called a fller chapter, though not really o-o And as always this isn't really edited . So there will be mistakes o-o

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Keina grimaced as the gryphon in front of her shook it's head spraying water all over her. When Asanri and Keina had bought gryphons they hadn't expected the rain storm that had hit them when flying over Darkshire, Keina had wanted to land and wait it out, but Asanri said the big beasts could handle it.

The gryphon edged forward and nipped at Keina's arm with it's beak. The druid smiled and ran her fingers through the smooth feathers covering its head. "I like him, can I keep him?" She asked the gryphon master.

The man put down the book he had been writing their names in and walked over to them, he glanced at the gryphon and then at her. "Maybe, his name is Talon," He cocked his head, causing honey-brown hair to fall into his goggle covered eyes. "He says he likes you, and that you fed him fish."

Keina had indeed fed the gryphon fish, Asanri and Keina had realized they had forgot to pack food so the two had made it to the river, their gryphons following behind them, and fished up dinner. When the food had finished roasting over the fire, Asanri was already eating, but Keina didn't have much of an appetite so she had given her share to her gryphon.

The gryphons were surprisingly cheaper than she thought they would be. They were only a few silver for a trip to Stormwind, Asanri had given the camp the huge draft horse they had rode in on.

Talon squawked at her, drawing the night elf from her thoughts. "I do hope so, because I really do like him, he's much friendlier than the hippogryphs in Darnassus.  
The human nodded his head in agreeance. "Those hippogryphs...they're pretty to look at, they're also good in battle, but they aren't the friendliest." He glanced at the opening where the gryphons flew in. A man had just landed and was having an argument with his gryphon. The flight master frowned and shook his head, muttering something under his breath. "Come back later and we'll work something out, yeah?"

Keina nodded and smiled, her heart lifting just a tiny bit. She bid farewell to Talon with a scratch on the side of his head and then she was walking away her pack hoisted over her shoulder. She had only walked a few steps when a razor sharp beak grabbed the back of her leather armor and jerked her back.

The night elf lost her balance and landed hard against the wooden floor of the landing. She blinked up at Talon, who still had his beak clamped around the back of her armor.

The flight master was doubled over laughing. "You can take him with you," he said between laughs. "Just come back and we'll work out the payment, yeah?"

Keina nodded and patted Talon's side, her fingers sinking into the short soft fur. The gryphon released her armor and looked rather pleased with himself as the two headed out of the landing and onto the main streets of Stormwind.

Stormwind was as busy as always, merchants advertising their merchandise, children running through the streets, the rats scurrying for dropped scraps. Yep, Stormwind hadn't changed. She ignored the astonished glances she received from the cityfolk as she walked by them, Talon however didn't. He'd screech at anyone he caught staring.

It must not be normal for a night elf to walk through the streets with a gryphon. Keina was glad Talon was with her, if for some reason she was to be attacked, her attacker probably wouldn't escape with their life. Gryphons are dangerous to mess with, razor sharp beak, talons and claws like the sharpest of knives, and there was the small fact that they could fly. They really weren't to be messed with. Keina frowned as she glanced around, Asanri probably wouldn't see her off. The priestess was still mad at her. Keina couldn't blame her.

She lifted her pack experimentally, a frown crossed her face again, her pack was fairly light, she would need more provisions, especially since she had a new companion. Not to mention the stuff she would have to buy for Issa, that's if the mist saber was indeed in Darnassus. She sighed and turned to her right as she approached one of the many stone bridges in Stormwind, she needed food, her armor repaired, a saddle for Talon, medical supplies, and probably something else that she was forgetting. She could get all of that in the Dwarven district, she just had to go through Old Town, cross near the keep, and then she would be there.

The druid had already made her way through Old Town, and now she stood in front of the bridge that led to the Dwarven district, she refused to go into the keep, she had never once stepped foot into that place.

She didn't quite care for King Varian.

She glanced up at the blue sky above her, Talon had decided to fly above her a few moments ago, she couldn't see him anymore, so he had probably gotten distracted by a bird or something else.

Her thought process as calls rang throughout Stormwind, warning of intruders. Stormwind was constantly getting attacked by the Horde, their goal was always the King that sat within the walls of the keep. She cursed under her breath, she was in the way. She started to dart forward towards the bridge, but she froze once she felt the cold bite of metal against her throat.

"Ey wouldn't be goin' dat way if ey were yah." A familiar accent but foreign voice drawled into her ear.

How many trolls would she meet? No, scratch that, how many crazy troll rogues would she meet? Because that's all she seemed to come across.

"Oh?" She said, "Why not?"

"Well," the troll said, amusement clear in his voice. "more of mah group will be comin' dat way, 'nd as much as ey love blood, ey don't quite like da color purple."

She sighed. "I'm getting sick and tired of getting knives pressed against my throat by you damn rogues." She snarled, twisting around and escaping the trolls grasp. She didn't care that the sharp blade had cut into her throat, drawing blood.

The troll in front of her was about the same height as Vojjin, but this troll had teal blue hair twisted up into knot on top of his head. He face was smeared with black and green warpaint, and his tusks were decorated with various small bone carvings. His tusks, she noticed, were a tad smaller than Vojjins, but just as impressive.

The troll, instead of being shocked by her escape, just grinned, baring sharp teeth that reminded her of a sharks. "Now dis be fun." He murmured, and slid into a crouch just watching her as she stepped further away from him, her body sliding into a defensive pose. She had set her bag down earlier, and when Talon had took off to the skies he had taken her bag with him, the worn leather pack clutched within his talons.

So, Keina was stuck without a weapon, and she was far too tired to change forms. The troll snickered to himself and leapt forward, striking out with the knife in his right hand and when she twisted her body away he struck out with the knife in his left. He barely got her with the left knife, the sharp blade cutting through the leather of her armor drawing a dark line of blood. She dodged once more and struck out with the palm of her hand, the blow hard enough to break a mans collarbone.

But this troll was no human male.

She may have fractured his collarbone, but the troll didn't even flinch, he just used the closeness as a chance to strike at her, she barely managed to twist away. If it weren't for the agility she had gained from years of training and the lithe grace of her people, she wouldn't have been able to dodge it. She couldn't keep this up for long, she just knew the basics of hand to hand combat, she hadn't really learned how to fight outside of her animal forms and asking help from nature.

She ducked and rolled away from his next attack, she was relieved that he hadn't put poison on his knives, otherwise this fight would have been over by now.

"Yer not bad, Alliance." The troll said, sliding back into a relaxed pose as shouts drew closer. "I'll hafta kill yah later, Zelaji is da name." And then the troll was slinking back into the shadows leaving Keina staring at the empty spot the rogue had been. Keina sighed in irritation and hurried off to a safer spot.

She didn't make it very far when the rest of the Horde group arrived along with the Stormwind guards. She was quite literally stuck in between them. She couldn't make out the faces of the Horde members and she didn't want to guess their race from their size, that was honestly too much trouble.

Keina swore under her breath and sighed, she turned her attention towards the Stormwind guards. "You guys are going to at least let me through, right?" She knew another way to the Dwarven district, it took longer, but it put her out of the way of all this. The guards didn't hesitate in their answer because they didn't give her one, their attention was focused wholly on the Horde standing across from them.

A smaller figure of the horde group made a quick thrust with their hand and a bolt of ice was shot towards her head, Keina quickly ducked out of the way. She hated going up against mages. She narrowed her eyes at the mage.

What did she have left to fight with...?

Keina quickly ran her hands over the outside of her pockets, searching for something on her person. There was nothing. She really should start carrying stuff...

She looked up and a grin crossed her face, this would work.

She quickly waved goodbye to both the Horde members who were still having a standoff with the guards, and the useless guards who were just staring. She pushed herself into a run, jumped when she neared the brick wall and pushed off with her foot to gain momentum as she flipped into the air and landed on Talon's back. She clamped her legs to his sides and grasped his feathers with her hands, holding on. The gryphon had come in useful, she peered down below them, both groups were just standing there, a few staring up at Talon. When she was turning her gaze back to Talon she was glad to see that he still had her pack in his talons.

She urged him forward and he happily obliged. His wings flapping as he flew towards the Dwarven district. First he dropped her pack to the ground when he was a few feet above it, and then he landed, his eagle feet digging into the stone beneath them, he flicked his tail from side to side very much like a cat would do.

She smiled, he was half lion afterall.

She stretched and stared with curiosity at the the bridge that connected Old Town and the Dwarven district, she supposed that both groups were still staring, since there was no noise. She frowned, that was very unusual, normally when Horde was sighted in Stormwind, they were almost immediately found and fought.

She shrugged the thought off and lifted her pack, throwing it over her shoulder. "Come on Talon, were going to get you a saddle first." The gryphon nuzzled his beak into her back as response. Keina laughed and ruffled his feathers. Keina ignored the weird stares she was getting from the Dwarves outside of their buildings. She ducked under a large swinging log and entered the building that was set behind it.

"Hello," she called when she stepped inside, causing a male and female dwarf to twist around from their seats to look at her. "I need a saddle made for my gryphon and my armor repaired, if you're not swamped that is." She said.

The male dwarf squinted at her, his eyes hidden beneath furry brows, and his mouth hidden beneath a huge salt and pepper beard. "Ah've jist finished most o' ma work, Ah can take yer armor, jist let Cug measure yer beastie."

Keina nodded, if it weren't for the fact that she had dealt with dwarves before, she wouldn't have understood anything he was saying. "I'll just go change, and Talon is right outside if you want to measure him now." She directed the last part to the female dwarf that was apparently named Cug.

"Gunus," Cug started, her voice rough with anger. "Doont ya be takin' that girrel's money jist yet, we do the same we always do, finish then the girrel pays."

Gunus grumbled in his chair but nodded. He waved a hand towards a room in the back. "There are some clothes ye can use back there."

Keina nodded and murmured her thanks and headed into the back room, quickly stripping her armor off and rummaging through the stack of clothes for things that would fit. She frowned when she didn't find anything. She ducked beneath the table looking for anything that may have fallen behind. Still nothing. She glanced at her pack and she felt her mood worsen.

She was stuck in that damn dress once again.

She really hated dresses, they were just...not convenient. She sighed bitterly as she slipped the dress on once again, well, at least things couldn't get much worse.

Well, she hoped they couldn't.

She headed back out of the room, her pack slung over her shoulder, she nodded her thanks to Gunus and then to Cug as she passed the dwarf on the way outside. She stopped to run her fingers through the feather at Talon's neck. "Are the measurements done?" she asked.

Cug looked up from the pad she had been scribbling on, squinted at Keina, and then nodded, making a shooing motion with her hand. An obvious dismissal.

Keina grinned to herself and headed further down into the Dwarven district, Talon following behind her. In the dwarven district she could smell the smoke of the fires, hear the clang of a hammer beating hot metal, it wasn't uncommon to smell and hear the same things in Darnassus, just not as often as one would in the Dwarven district.

The dwarves had solid stone beneath their feet while the elves in Darnassus had stone and wood. They did, after all, live on top of a huge tree. keeping a fire going almost constantly was a bad idea.

The druid ignored the strange looks she was getting, her eyes widened as she saw a stand full of food that would be perfect for travel, dried meats and fruits, powder to make various things with water, and the vender was surprisingly one of her people.

She approached the stand with a small grin on her face. "What exactly do you have here, sir?" She asked.

The male night elf in front of her was as much of a stranger to her as these dwarves were. He had long green hair that was loose about his shoulders, he face was clean of any trace of a beard, and his eyes were as silver as her own. His eyes widened in surprise as he took in her outfit and the gryphon that was peering curiously over her shoulder. "I have dried jerky of various origins, a variety of dried fruits, coffee powder, tea powder," he paused and sorted through his stuff. "Dried fish...rice..." He stopped after that, seeming confused by something, he probably was missing a product.

Keina nodded, and pointed to the dried beef and venison, she also asked for the dried plums, apricots, strawberries, basically a bit of every fruit he had there. On her second glance at the dried meats she also asked for some dried fish, and then some powdered coffee and tea. These would last her a long while, and she would need it to.

The elf nodded and went about collecting her order, wrapping each separate thing in a piece of soft leather which he tied with a small piece of rope, when he was done he said the total it amounted to, which was no more than two gold coin. Which wasn't bad for this amount of food. She opened her pack and set each bundle in there carefully, and then handed the merchant his two gold coins.

He once against nodded his thanks. "Have a nice day, sister elf."

Keina nodded and murmured her thanks as well, moving on to other stands. When she was through she had bought a new rope, a medical kit, fresh food, a few sets of clothing should she have to change out of her armor again anytime soon, she also had bought a small knife which she tucked into the waist of her dress. Now her gaze was searching for different gifts for her friends.

She didn't find much that she liked.

She had been passing a leatherworker shop when something very familiar caught her eye, Talon was now bearing her heavy pack, but it was nothing to the Gryphon. Keina motioned for him to stay outside as she stepped into the building. "Excuse me," She called to the man behind the counter. "Could I see those?" She asked, motion to the dragon scales on the top shelf behind the counter. The salesman nodded and took them down laying them in front of her, they were three huge black scales.

She grimaced at the color, black meant they came from the black dragonflight, which meant they had come from Deathwing's dragonflight, she hated anything to do with the corrupted Earth Warder, but the scales were nice and Malar could use them. "How much?"

The salesman was about to say something, but his eyes twinkled and he listed a price much higher than she expected. "Twenty gold."

She frowned, she wasn't about to spend that much on dragon scales, especially when she was being lied to. "Sir, these aren't worth twenty gold, they are nice, yes. But they are worth about two gold each."

The salesman frowned and opened his mouth the speak but instead he yelped when a shoe came flying out of the back hitting him in the head.

"Boy," a voice called from the back. "Give the regular price before I skin you!" An elderly man emerged from the back and took in Keina's appearance and then looked at the scales she was interested in. "Actually, give the scales to the girl for free, when a night elf is bothering with black dragon scales it must be very important." The old man grinned. "Though I hope you will return the favor girl, should I need anything from Teldrassil in the future."

Keina smiled warmly at the elderly man and nodded. "Of course, this is a great thing you do for me."

The younger man quickly wrapped the scales in a piece of white leather, tied a small piece of rope around it and handed it to her, grumbling the entire time.

Keina bowed her head to the elderly man. "Thank you." She murmured and then she headed outside, sticking the scales into a pocket in her pack. Talon nipped at the cloth of her dress, seeming to enjoy how the fabric didn't tear beneath his beak.

Keina stretched and squinted her eyes at the sun that was high into the sky. She had been acting her age today, and it was quite boring. She enjoyed joking around, but there was no one to joke around with. She was leaving the Dwarven district when a travel set of pots and pans caught her eyes, she already had a travel set back in Darnassus, but these looked like a fine gift for Cogar. After some haggling she got them at a lower price and then tied them securely to Talon, the gryphon still wasn't minding being used as a pack horse, so to speak.

She sighed, the dwarves should b done with her order by now, she figured she stop by the gryphon master first. Talon wasn't quite happy to be returning to the landing, his feather fluffed up. Well, at least they fluffed up where he had feathers, since his front half was entirely eagle, and his back half was that of a lion.

"Flight master, have you thought of a price." She asked, as she walked up the ramp into the landing, leaving Talon outside since the gryphon wanted nothing to do with the inside of the building. The flight master was engaged in a conversation with someone she had never ever wanted to see again.

It was Dway Proudmoore, her stalker, and the one human she's wanted to kill. She's had quite vivid fantasies of slamming his head into a wall, mauling him, poisoning him, and a lot other more gruesome deaths.

The flight master excused himself from the conversation to turn around and smile at her. "Hmm...ten gold, that's not much for a gryphon, they cost much more than that, especially if you want to raise the beast from an egg."

Keina nodded and handed him the gold pieces, hoping to get out of there before she was noticed, sadly, she had been noticed since she stepped into the landing.

"Well, if it isn't the missing druid." Dway drawled from his place behind the flight master.

Keina grimaced at the sound of his voice. "Well, obviously I'm not dead, now if you'll excuse me I have places to be."

Dway was suddenly in front of her, his body just barely touching hers, she back away only to find her back against a wall. This man made her skin crawl. "No you don't Keina, don't I get a proper hello?" He whispered as he lowered his head closer to hers. She grimaced once again and reached for the knife in her belt.

He caught her hand, and Keina hated that her body felt like she was trying to pull an elephant around. She was just that exhausted.

"Sorry, not this time." he said, and edged closer to her, she looked over his shoulder and saw the flight master was conveniently looking away. Great, just great.

She had to get the one stalker that actually held sway in Stormwind. He may have been drunk most of the time, like he was now, she could smell the alcohol on his breath. But he held a high position in Stormwind, though she couldn't remember the position, she just knew that he managed to get away with everything.

She glared at Dway and attempted to shove her knee up and then escape, but he also caught her leg. Air hissed out from between her teeth and she began to struggle with what strength she had left. "Get off of me!"

He didn't say anything, he only laughed.

A screech sounded through the landing and Dway was knocked away from her, sharp talons digging through his armor as if it were thin aluminum. Talon was standing in front of her protectively his wings spread, and his chest puffed up to make himself appear as a bigger threat. Dway scrambled away from the, eyes wide in shock.

The paladin stood and glared at the gryphon and then glanced at Keina, "What the hell is this."

Keina pushed herself from the wall and grabbed onto Talon's neck to keep herself upright, she had the sudden urge just to sleep, but she could do that on the boat. "This is my new friend, I'd be wary of him if I were you." she said.

Dway narrowed his eyes at the gryphon, his hand grasping the hilt of his sword, drawing an inch of the blade from it's sheath.

The whisper of metal leaving it's sheath made the flight master step in. "Sir Paladin, your sword wouldn't last against Talon, he would break it." He dipped his head respectfully, the flight master new better than to anger the paladin. The flight master made a motion with his hands, signaling for them to get out of there.

Keina took the chance and used the last of her energy to dart out of the landing, Talon right beside her. It wasn't long until they stopped in front of the dwarven shop where she had placed her order. Cug was already outside with both of her packages, the woman took in Keina's appearance and her brow creased in worry.

"Are ye alright, girl?"

Keina nodded, and handed the amount she owed the couple to Cug. She motioned Talon closer and took everything she had loaded him with off and set it on the ground, she unwrapped the newly made saddle from the soft piece of leather it had been covered in. She put it on the gryphon and quickly went about tightening it, she left it a little loose, not too loose to fall off, but loose enough so it wouldn't hurt him. She placed the soft piece of leather in her pack and then slung it up onto the side of the saddle, she put the pots and pans on the other side, balancing him out.

She said her thanks and shot a tired smile towards Cug before she climbed onto the saddle with Talon. She really hoped he could fly with all this stuff on him. Talon surprised her as he unfolded his wings and with on might beat thrust himself into the air, Keina grasped her newly repaired armor closer to her chest, her right hand tightening in Talon's feathers. "To the docks." She murmured. Talon turned his head to stare back at her, and Keina really didn't want to interpret what he was probably saying to her.

Talon made his wings beat smoother, making the ride a lot less bumpy as he headed towards the docks. The gryphon didn't land on the docks when they flew over the mighty ships, no, he landed in the boat.

She craned her neck around, making sure it was the right boat.

It was.

She groaned softly to herself as she slid off of Talon and made her way to the dock master. She didn't have to go very far, the dock master was a female night elf, her purple hair tied into two separate braids. The captain of the ship was standing right by her, as tall as most of the night elf men and his face was obscured by the large hat he was wearing. He was standing with his feet apart and his hands clasped behind his back.

The woman was staring at her in shock and Keina just laughed softly. "Sorry about that, he decided where he wanted to land."

The woman nodded. "So it seems...where are you headed?"

Ah, the woman thought she got the wrong boat just because she had a flying mount. "Darnassus, it's time for me to return."

The dock master nodded and gestured to the captain. "This is the captain of the ship, he will be taking you to Darnassus, well, so to speak."

"What is it going to cost me?" Keina asked, she really wanted to go curl up into something soft and fall asleep, she could feel her exhaustion deep in her bones.

The woman opened her mouth to speak but the captain shook his head. "We don't charge our own." He murmured and stepped off the dock into the ship, quickly heading to the helm.

They both stared after him in shock, Keina quickly murmured a polite farewell and made her way to the ship as well. From the look of it there weren't many others on the ship. Keina shrugged and motioned for Talon to follow her. The gryphon gently nuzzled his beak into the small of her back before giving her a shove forward causing her to go through the door that led below deck. Keina quickly chose a room, it was big enough for both of them. She unloaded Talon and took his saddle off before quite literally falling into the bed there.

She sighed in pleasure as the bed cradled every ache, every inch of her body. Her newly repaired armor dropped to the floor beside the bed, still in it's paper package. Her eyes closed of their own accord and soon her breathing evened out as she fell asleep.

The gryphon looked at the sleeping night elf on the bed, and crawled up there with her, he didn't care that he took up most of the bed. He stretched out one wing over the druid, acting as a blanket. Keina turned and snuggled into Talon's side, a soft sigh escaping her lips.

Keina woke up to a cold beak pressed against her face and the ship turning beneath her. She groaned and pulled herself up and untangled herself from the gryphon. Talon looked especially happy taking up most of the bed. She sighed and changed out of the dress she had been forced to wear once again and changed back into her armor. She stretched and grinned, loving being back in pants. She pulled the tie from her hair, and quickly smoothed it from its braid, running her fingers through it trying to untangle most of the knots, once she was satisfied she braided it again and then threw the braid over her shoulder. Keina made her way out to deck and squinted against the rain that was falling down rather harshly. The captain was yelling orders to the crew, they were scrambling all over the place heeding his orders.

Keins tilted her head back and watched as the storms clouds rolled over one another, growing bigger and darker by the second. "This isn't natural." She called to the captain.

The captained didn't stop in his tasks. "How do you know this?"

She grinned, even if he couldn't see her. "I'm a druid, I know these things, this is an upset, someone is causing this!"

"Is there anything you can do?" The captain called back.

Keina shrugged to herself. "I can try."

She closed her eyes and focused on the storm above her, it didn't have a natural feel to it, it had threads of magic through it, causing the clouds to roil in anger, rain falling harshly and the lightning striking at whatever it could.

This entire storm was acting out in defiance against the person controlling it, making it much worse than originally intended. Keina focused on trying to pull the magic from the storm, unravelling the threads by channeling her own magic. The magic controlling this storm was arcane, it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Her own magic came from nature itself.

This wasn't her strong suit, Keina wasn't a druid who specialized in this area of their magic, but she seemed to be managing well enough as she kept unravelling the arcane threads. Finally she pulled the last one free and the storm transformed back into it's calmer self. The moon peeked out from beneath clouds that would be white had it been daylight.

Keina sighed, and suppressed a yawn. She still hadn't rested enough. Very soon she was surrounded by cheering and excited faces. She laughed nervously and edged herself away from the crowd. "Thank you for your...uh...support." She murmured and darted back under deck and into her room. She glared at the gryphon who had now successfully taken over the entire bed and seemed to be snoring softly.

She didn't know gryphons could snore.

She sighed and squished herself in besides the gryphon, she closed her eyes attempting to fall asleep. She was nervous about what would happen once she reached Darnassus, and she was still exhausted for no reason at all.

Well, the earlier work with the storm was a reason, but before that? She had no reason to be this exhausted.

She tossed and turned, sleep seemed to escape her this time.

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I'm so happy, I'm writing long stuff again :D Yaaaay, and I'm sleepy. Annnnd Im hungry. x.x And my eye hurts o-o Uhm, review? xDDD


	13. Darnassus

Uhm, unedited as always xD Finally in Darnassus. This is shorter than the previous chapters but I had to rush it to get this out today o-o

* * *

Keina sat near the edge of the ship, she didn't get much sleep because of a certain gryphon. She sighed and leaned her back against the nearest thing to her, which was a barrel. She frowned at the rolling waves beneath the ship, she liked the ocean, she just preferred to be on a more stable craft than a boat.

Her attention was dragged from the waves when someone shoved a steaming plate of meat buns in her face. Keina looked at the holder of the delectable plate. It was the captain.

The man smiled. "This is a thank you from me for your work last night." He said and motioned to the plate.

She grinned and accepted the plate, she offered the captain one as the man lowered himself down next to her. He accepted and opted to let it cool in his hand instead of biting into the nicely cooked bun like Keina already was.

She winced as the hot meat spilled onto her tongue, she probably should have let it cool. Keina had never really been one to let her food sit, she loved it far too much. Besides, it had been a long, long time since she had one of these. It was bliss to her tongue.

The captain removed his hat, and sighed leaning his head back against the barrel that was behind him. His hair was black and cropped short, which was extremely weird for night elven men to do.

"Aren't you supposed to be sailing the ship, or something like that?" She asked.

He laughed, a glint of amused appearing in his silver eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be adventuring?"

She grinned. "I'm on break?" She took another bite of the meat bun, savoring the taste. She would really have to take the time to make these in the future. She just loved them so much.

The captain bit into the meat bun he held in his hand as well, Keina watched his face to see if he reacted the same way she did.

He didn't.

His face remained in the same calm expression it had been a few moments before. She frowned, maybe she reacted as she did because she hadn't had these in a long, long time. "So, do you have a name?" She asked. She couldn't quite keep calling him captain for forever.

He turned his silver eyes toward her once again. "Ah, I'm Arrus Oaknight." He dipped his head in greeting as most did when stating their names.

Keina dipped her head in turn, it was the polite thing to do. "I'm Keina Dawningstar."

Arrus's eyes widened slightly. "Aren't you dead, I swear I attended your funeral just last month."

Keina frowned, so it had already been a month since they announced her dead, she had thought it had only been a few days. She sighed. "That was a misunderstanding of sorts...I ran into some trouble and I wasn't able to get word back." That was the truth...to a point.

Arrus nodded and snatched a meat bun off the plate as he pulled himself up off the deck. "We'll be arriving at the docks soon." he said just as the boat began to pick up speed, the elven boats were always assisted by some magic to go faster so it wouldn't take months to reach the destination, it only took mere days now.

Keina continued snacking on the meat buns until she had her fill. She glanced at the few buns left on the plate and slowly stood up, wincing as she lost her balance and stumbled into the barrel. This was why she disliked boats, the rocking made her unsteady, and having no land near her made her very uneasy.

She made her way below deck and to her room where Talon was happily staying. Keina couldn't believe the gryphon hadn't come up to investigate. She pushed the door open and found the gryphon still laying on the bed, he was awake now and his gold eyes were staring straight at her. She sighed and laid the plate and front of him and watched as he quickly devoured the buns. "You knew I'd give you food." She murmured, her eyes darted towards her pack to make sure he hadn't decided to eat her travel food. The leather bag was bulging, but it was untouched. She move the plate aside, she would return it leather, and plopped down onto the bed next to Talon.

"We'll be arriving at Rut'theran Village soon," she murmured to the gryphon. "it's pretty, it's at the very base of our tree. It's a small fishing village, the people there are nice, they even hatch hippogryphs there." She smiled as the image came into her mind. "They are adorable, but the adults are...mostly mean tempered, there are a few sweet ones, but not many. Once were in the fishing village we must go through the portal."

She couldn't fathom why she was talking to Talon, she was probably doing it because the gryphon seemed to understand her even if he couldn't talk back. Whatever her reason was she continued talking. "The portal lies beneath a few roots, it's not visible unless a person knows what to look for, once we pass through we will be in Darnassus."

She sighed once more, just imagining the chaos that would unfold as she would arrive made her tired. "That is when all the fun begins..." she whispered.

Her eyes closed of their own accord and she found herself drifting off again, not fully, just enough to where memories entered her thoughts, the bad and the good ones.

She opened her eyes and pushed the memories away from her thoughts, if that was how it was going to be then she wouldn't sleep. She ran her fingers through Talon's feathers as she sat up. He wasn't fully grown yet, and his color hadn't fully settled yet. Gryphons will remain the common golden brown color until they reach maturity, then they can go towards various shades, white, black, or even remain the current golden brown. She had seen a gryphon with red feathers once, it was beautiful.

Talon scraped his beak across the back of her hand in a gentle way, it was his form of a caress. When she sat up he butted his head against her side, urging her to pay more attention to him. She smiled at the pushy gryphon but gave in anway, running her hand over the soft feathers of head. The feathers were white on his head, which meant he was close to full maturity. Baby gryphon's have brown feathers on their heads until they reach a certain age.

"Don't let Issa eat you," she murmured to him. "Issa is my mistsaber, she's been with me for a long time, and now so shall you."

Talon seemed to like the sound of that because he nuzzled his head into her side. She sighed and laid down, her gaze on the ceiling as she was still petting Talon. Her mind was going through all the different possible outcomes of when she reached Darnassus.

Would her people think she was one of the damned at first? A wraith? Or would they be willing to believe that it was actually her in the flesh and smelling of gryphon instead of grave dirt.

At the thought of what she smelled like her mind grew curious, she sat up and took in the scent of her armor, she smelled like gryphon, the sea, and the very faint fragrance of her favorite soap. She would have preferred a stronger soap, she loved the scent of lilies, but the scent proved stronger than she would've liked. It's easy to pinpoint an enemy if they smell of something that is extremely out of place. So she stuck to soap, a near scentless brand she had picked up from a trader on the road awhile back.

A soft knock on the door to her room broke her from her thoughts, she was already sitting up so getting up to open the door wouldn't have been a problem, if it weren't for the large gryphon head laid in her lap, Talon just seemed to be wanting to touch her whenever she wasn't petting him.

"Come on," she called to the person on the other side of the door. "I'm sorry I can't open the door myself, I'm a bit...occupied at the moment."

A chuckle met her ears as the wooden door was pushed open to reveal Arrus. The captain of the ship took the sight in and his mouth quirked up in a grin. "I've never seen a gryphon so attached to someone before, ah, but what I came to tell you was that we're pulling into dock as of now." he said.

Keina nodded. "Thank you for bringing me here, I didn't see any other passengers."

Arrus sighed. "We don't get many people traveling to Rut'theran around this time of year, normally they are all leaving to gather ingredients, or make money."

The druid agreed, she had forgotten that it was getting close to the Darkmoon Faire, everyone left to go to that, or to prepare for it by saving money or making more. Keina nudged Talon, the gryphon opened his eyes and peered up at her before making some sort of grunting sound and hopping off the bed and looked at her expectantly.

Keina stood up and went about getting her stuff and loaded it onto to Talon again, the gryphon huffed and waited for Arrus to stand aside before going above deck. Arrus shook his head as he watched the gryphon leave. "He is quite a character, isn't he."

She smiled and laughed. "Yes, he is, I wouldn't have been able to handle all that stuff if it weren't for him," Keina rummaged through the small brown bag at her side and drew out a single gold coin, she walked towards Arrus and stopped in front of him, grabbing his hand and pressing the coin into it. "As you said, you don't get much business this time of year, so take it."

Arrus tried to refuse but Keina shook her head and wouldn't accept the coin back. "Everyone has to make a living somehow," she said "I'll see you around Captain Arrus!" Then she was walking above deck, double checking to make sure she had everything and then she and Talon departed from the ship.

Keina didn't look back as the ship pulled out from port once more, her gaze was focused on the small fishing village in front of her. Her stomach started to twist itself into knots from how nervous she was becoming. Talon butted his head into the small of her back causing her to stumble forward a few steps. She shot a glare at the gryphon and mumbled under her breath. "I was going to move..."

Truthfully though, she needed the shove.

Her footsteps echoed across the pale wooden planks of the dock as she walked, there was a fisherman at the very end loading his daily query into a woven basket, he glanced up from beneath the long hat he was wearing. Keina didn't recognize the man and the man didn't recognize her. Keina kept walking and the man went back to work, his purple skin darkening with sweat from the humid night and from the strain of pulling up those heavy nets. Rut'theran really was small, it wasn't as big as most of the villages, it was tiny compared to Auberdine. Auberdine was right across from the small fishing village, but it was separated by the sea, though if one were to stand at the end up the dock and peer out into the vast space of the seat, they would see a faint glow coming from the sky.

It wasn't a wisp and it definitely wasn't some strange power, it was simply the night elf version of a lighthouse. Once you neared that, the town of Auberdine was only minutes away. Her stride smoothened once her feet sunk into the soft damp grass. When foreigners visited Rut'theran they would stand at the end up the docks looking for a stone path that simply isn't there. If there was a road it would have lead to the portal and that wasn't very smart to have a road leading to the entrance of a major city.

Rut'theran held the only entrance to the top of Teldrassil, the only other way to access the top would be by flying, and the only being capable of flying for such great lengths across the sea without tiring is a dragon. And no one could simply ride a dragon without the dragon's permission. And there was no way another stunt like Deathwing had pulled was going to happen anytime soon.

Keina pulled herself from her thoughts and focused on heading to the portal, it was only a few feet away, and so far she wasn't seeing anyone she recognized, had that many people moved in? Or had she just not been paying attention before?

The answer escaped her, and she swore she was going to start paying more attention to things. Talon wasn't really interested in what was around him, besides the smell of the fish, he was very interested in that. She had to stop him from stealing another man's basket filled with fish. She apologized quite a bit to the disgruntled night elf who kept glaring at the both of them as if they were the plague.

Keina stopped where the roots came down upon one another and took a deep breath, this was the moment she had been dreading. Before the gryphon could take the liberty of pushing her she stepped forward into the portal. Being transported from one place to another didn't bother her much anymore, she was used to it. She had years of exiting and coming through that portal, not to mention all the times she had been teleported to the moonglade with her teacher when she was in training.

One gets used to the shifting of worlds by then. The Emerald Dream was an entirely different experience...

Her world shifted itself back into place and she was standing on a stone path that led into the heart of Darnassus. This was the place she had missed and had worried over. Sonn Talon appeared next to her, the gryphon didn't appear bothered about the fact that he had just shifted from one place to another it seemed as if he was used to it.

She would definitely have to find out more about where this gryphon had been in his previous travels. Talon turned his head and started looking all around him, Darnassus was new to him so he was very curious. The gryphon spotted a pair of hippogryphs with riders flying towards them and just looked on quietly as they land in front of them. The two riders were male night elves, not sentinels, the sentinel role belonged only to the women of their kind.

The two men were covered head to toe in armor, their hand laid on the hilt of their weapons as they warily looked upon her.

Keina sighed, not recognizing the two men, just how many people had moved in since she had left?

The first male, his helm was a brighter silver than his companions, spoke up. "What is your business here?"

Keina didn't bother to be playful, she was too anxious for that, so instead she remained calm. "Asking a fellow night elf what her business is in Darnassus, it seems I've been gone for far too long if the night elves cannot trust one of their own." She said.

The one with the bright helm spoke again, his hippogryph making a sound of annoyance as he adjusted himself in the saddle. "We have recently lost two of our own, we have to be on guard towards everyone that comes through that portal that we don't recognize." he said.

The one with the duller helm decided to speak as well. "Well, we lost one...and its almost as if we lost the other, he's lost himself."

The first elf shook his head. "He won't come back from that, so we have lost two," he turned his attention back to Keina. "Now, what is your business here, sister?"

Keina sighed once again. "I live here, now tell me who this lost soul is?"

The second elf was the one to answer her this time. "Dalnaar, he fell apart when news of his students death reached here."

Keina's heart gave a painful squeeze at the mention of her teacher, how could Dalnaar fall apart? He was always so strong...

"Well, his student isn't dead, now let me pass." She stated and started to walk around the two on hippogryphs, the first elf drew the polearm that was strapped across his back and held it in front of her.

"I haven't given you permission to pass," he murmured "What do you mean his student isn't dead."

Keina didn't even flinch at the cold metal that was digging into the leather armor of her chest, she held a calming hand out as Talon started to attack, the gryphon backed down but kept his attention on the two guards.

The second guard looked warily at the gryphon while the first pressed the metal of his polearm harder against her, the blade not quite yet slicing into the leather of her armor.

"I am that student, I never died, obviously, I just went missing," she was starting to grow irritated. "Now let me pass, or I will force my way through, and trust me, you two are nothing compared the things I've faced before." She ground out, the air in her lungs hissing out between her teeth in an angry hiss. When it came to her mentor she didn't play around, if Dalnaar had indeed lost himself she was already wasting too much time.

The second guard quickly moved out of the way, the first one was more hesitant but he too moved out of her way. Keina thoughts stumbled over the happenings just now. Darnassus didn't become suspicious of every person that came through that portal over few deaths, yes they mourned the loss of their people, but they never grew so defensive. Something else must have happened.

Her mind couldn't grasp what it was at just that moment, her mind was focused on getting to her mentor. She passed their bank and a few vendors, she heard a few gasps of surprise as she and Talon ran by. They were a mix of shocked and relieved gasps as they recognized her, she didn't have time to listen to the murmuring that started as they saw her.

She increased her speed and darted around a corner, heading deeper into Darnassus, looking for the house she had been to millions of times before. Her feet left the stones and met grass damp with dew. She stopped in front of a house that was very near to her own. She didn't bother to knock as she shoved the door open, she entered the house leaving a curious Talon behind her.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she took in the messy house of her mentor's, books and papers were strewn everywhere. Clothes, dirty dishes...rotten food...this place was a mess. Her nose wrinkled in disgust at the stench. She headed into the next room, which was Dalnaar's kitchen, he wasn't in there. She didn't bother with any of the other rooms on the lower floor and instead hurriedly climbed the steps that led to the upper floor. A couple of the wooden steps squeaked under her weight, a dead giveaway of her presence.

She wanted him to notice her, that would at least mean he was aware of his surroundings. But doubt clouded her heart as she remembered how it looked downstairs, if he was aware of anything then he wouldn't be in this mess, he definitely wouldn't have been living in this filth. She shoved the door to his bedroom open, the wooden door squeaked on it's hinges and banged roughly against the wall.

A figure that was slumped on the bed sat up and looked at her through long unwashed deep blue hair, amber eyes glowing through the mass of hair. Dalnaar looked as if he hadn't washed himself in months...or even eaten. Dalnaar had been in the Emerald Dream long before he started training her, so his body could go for a very long time without nourishment.

Dalnaar's muscles bunched as he moved, his hands grasping the dirty sheets beneath him as he began to laugh, it was a dark laugh filled with pain. The fact that he was in such a state sent daggers through her heart. This pitiful creature had once been a proud man that stood tall with his shoulders never slumped. He never reacted this way over death, he knew it was a natural occurrence that would happen to every single one of them.

"This must be some cruel illusion..." Dalnaar murmured, the deep timbre of his voice was soothing for her yet she couldn't feel calm with the pain that was laced through it. "You're dead," he said, looking straight at her. "Go away, go to the Goddess."

Keina shook her head. "I'm not an illusion, nor am I some ghost that hasn't left this realm." She kept her voice soft, trying to be soothing.

Dalnaar shook his head. "No, you are dead, just as dead as Alatheia," he laughed again, a hysterical laugh. "No," he murmured. "I had to kill Alatheia...she was undead." He peered at me again through the curtain of his hair. "You're not undead are you? I could bear to free Alatheia from her prison, but you...Keina...it would destroy me to have to kill you..."

Keina tried to tell him that she wasn't any of those things, that it was indeed her, but it only made him angry.

Dalnaar's light skin darkened as he grew angry, his eyes narrowed and leapt up off the bed slamming her up against the wall that was behind her, his hand was wrapped around her throat and her feet barely touched the floor, even if Dalnaar was in this lowly state he was still stronger than her.

She felt her heart hammer against the inside of her ribcage, she didn't struggle against him, she felt useless in this situation. An idea wormed it's way into her mind, it could work...

She lifted one of her hands and pressed his hand harder against her neck. "Feel that," she murmured. "It's my pulse, dead things don't have a pulse." She was taking a chance here, even if Dalnaar was weak, he could still crush her as easily as a grape.

The elder druid stared down at her in shock, soon his hand released her neck and he slumped to the floor, his shoulders beginning to shake with quiet sobs, she had never before seen this man cry and she was at a loss at what to do. She didn't have to decide because Dalnaar yanked her down next to him and crushed her to his chest. "Go missing again and I'll kill you myself..." he muttered, his voice hoarse as held her tighter against him.

Keina wrinkled her nose at the scent of Dalnaar, he reeked, but she could put up with it as long as he was back to himself. Dalnaar starting running his hand across the back of her head in a gentle almost parental way.

After his shoulder stopped shaking and he had calmed down enough she pulled away from him. "You need to bathe, and then we need to clean this place...Talon won't even come inside because of how bad it is!" That was a sad thing indeed since the gryphon loved being inside, especially if there was furniture.

Dalnaar grimaced as he finally smelled himself and pushed his hair out of his face. "Who is this Talon you are speaking of?" He was back to the elf she remembered, though he was still a little shaky.

Keina grinned. "Talon is a gryphon."

Dalnaar just stared at her with a calm expression on his face for a few moment before sighing and shaking his head. "I will never know how you manage to bring home the strangest creatures." He stood up, towering over her. "We have much to talk about." he murmured.

Keina heard Talon huff in annoyance outside and she found herself nodding as she watched Dalnaar's broad shoulders retreat from her vision.

Indeed they did.

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XD Don't kill me? Reviewww :D


	14. Found

Late I know, but I got the flu last week... xD and well yeah. It's not a good nor as long as the previous ones. And the next chapter will be out on Friday lol

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Keina fiddled with the herbs in front of her as Dalnaar sat across from her, his gaze boring into her. He was waiting for her to begin her tale, but she had no intentions of doing that anytime soon, she was too occupied with the pile of herbs in front of her. The two of them had finally managed to straighten up his house, all the doors and windows were open to air it out, and talon was happily stretched out on the wooden floor of the main room.

She separated the Kingsblood from the Mageroyal, and went about untangling the delicate flowers of the Steelbloom stalk.

"Keina..." Dalnaar said, his voice still sounding calm though she knew he was probably growing irritated with her.

Keina threw her braid over her shoulder once more, getting rather annoyed with the thick braid. She sighed and set down the Steelbloom and looked at Dalnaar. "Well...I sort of got captured." She murmured.

Dalnaar's eyes darkened as he stared at her. "Do tell, dear student, how that happened?" His voice was still calm, but his expression had hardened in anger, or was it worry? With Dalnaar it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

Keina found herself laughing nervously. "Well...I kind of ran out of water and I wandered too close to a Horde encampment...and I got caught by their rogue." She wasn't going to just come out and say everything, she was positive she would anger him again, and she didn't want to do that, an angry Dalnaar but not a pretty Dalnaar. And he was pretty, he was also handsome.

Dalnaar's expression stayed the same. "So...you got caught? After all that training...you got caught." He said, his expression remaining the same, but she was pretty sure he was furious. "Do tell me how you managed to survive in Northrend yet the moment you step into Tanaris you get caught."

Keina shrugged. "I was water deprived, don't judge a girl when she's dehydrated."

Dalnaar shook his head, his blue hair swinging behind him, he had pulled it up just a few moments earlier. "Really, and here I thought you were going to be a good student." he said. "And you wonder why I insist on sneaking things into your bag..." he muttered under his breath.

Keina pulled a face at him, giving into the childish behaviour she slipped into whenever she was with him. "You should've been born a woman, because you're acting exactly like a mother would towards her child."

It was Dalnaar's turn to shrug. "Now, what happened after you were captured by the rogue?"

She sighed, he wasn't going to stop pressing her. "Well, the troll, who's named Vojjin, tied me up. I was in my cat form by the way, and the tauren shaman, who's named Malar told the troll to tell me that I could switch back to my natural state, I did." She paused, trying to figure out what she was going to say next. "There was an orc as well, he's named Cogar, and he's a warrior, his coloring reminded me of the orcs from the Outlands."

"Well, as time passed I actually started to like them...and I decided to stay with them. Later on we met a warlock and a mage. I'm supposed to meet up with them In Felwood. Asanri...she's stayed in Stormwind she's still furious with me, and the flight master allowed me to have Talon." She had left out a lot, but she didn't feel like going into detail, Dalnaar would find out their personalities for himself soon, she highly doubted he was going to let her out of his sight for a long, long time.

Dalnaar nodded when she had finished. "Well, we'll set off for Felwood when we get everything ready, and when I've regained my full strength." He sighed. "Normally I would go as I am, but you my dear student have a knack for getting yourself into huge amounts of trouble." Keina sighed and muttered something about him being overprotective before finally agreeing. "Talon can be used for packs and other things. Since I assume I'll have Issa, and you'll have Kai."

Kai was by far the grumpiest saber she had ever met, he was a stormsaber and was much darker than Issa, where Issa was various shades of grey and white (which gave the impression of mist) Kai was various shades of black and grey (giving the impression of a storm.)

Dalnaar turned his gaze to outside the house. "Issa should be in the back fields, she hasn't been herself since the two of you were separated. Kai has strangely taken a liking to her..."

Keina found herself already standing. "Well, I'm going to go find her, care to join me?" She asked.

Dalnaar didn't answer but only pushed himself up from where he had been sitting. Obviously saying that he meant what he had said earlier, he wasn't going to let her out of his sight. Keina waited for her mentor as she stood outside of his house, her leather boots sinking into the soft wetness of the grass. Her gaze followed the high limbs that sprouted from Teldrassil, she had missed this place. It was quite, peaceful, and it didn't feel as if the sun would rise any moment and try and burn her alive.

Jungles, deserts... they were just too hot or too humid for her. She loved the coolness of the breeze as it crossed her skin. She had the small urge to just randomly start twirling around and just letting herself go, but even she was too reserved for that. Dalnaar ushered the gryphon out of the house before he himself exited, locking his door behind him.

He always locked the door, and he always kept to himself. So no curious soul ever wandered into his house, nor did any random person drop by for a visit. The two started on their way to the far off fields, neither talked, both just enjoyed the comfortable silence the moment. Both were family to each other, they were glad to be back in each others presence. The blood that was running through both of their veins may not have related them as family, but such a small thing didn't matter.

It would never matter.

Keina let her gaze pass over the Moon Temple as they passed it, she would have to pay her respects soon enough. She may not worship the Goddess, but she did respect her. Elune was said to be the mother of Cenarius, the demi-god was well loved by their paper, and his death was still mourned to this day. He was a loss that her people will never forget. Keina wished she could have met the demi-god, but sadly she wasn't alive during those times, Malfurion Stormrage was, along with his twin brother and the High Priestess.

Keina shook her head, clearing her thoughts, she didn't want to think of history. She turned her attention back to the present. Dalnaar was at her side, she could feel the warmth emanating from his body, it was comforting. Talon was walking ahead of the two of them, the gryphon was happily pushing his way through people and taking in the new environment fairly well.

She recognized most the people who stopped to stare at both of them, she did nothing more than smile at them. She didn't feel the need to stop and converse with them. The terrain quickly changed from grass to stone beneath their feet and it just as quickly turned back. A flash of red caught her eye and she stopped in her tracks, she almost expected to see a grinning troll with his tongue caught between his teeth as if to say: _I'm so badass I snuck into the Night Elven capital._

She refused to admit that she felt any form of disappointment when it turned out to be a piece of fiery red silk flipping and turning on a clothing line. She eyed the color and compared it to Vojjin's hair, it was nearly the same shade.

Dalnaar sighed at his young student and gave her a push forward, urging her to start towards the fields once more, he didn't want to be on the angry side of a night saber. He saw the flicker of disappointment in her eyes when the wind had caught the silk. He felt calm as he thought of who could possibly be starting to capture her heart. He shrugged the thought off and his attention turned back to his student who was way ahead of him, her thoughts everywhere and yet nowhere. A smile worked it's way onto his lips, she was dear to him.

Keina resisted to urge to jump up and down while excitedly saying whatever popped into her mind, she was excited to even be seeing Issa, even if it was from a distance. Her gaze latched onto the light grey that made up Issa, the saber was far from her sight but Keina's heart seized up anyway. She was excited to be reunited with her friend. She could see Issa's head swivel, and her ears perk slightly. Suddenly the saber was running towards her, the great muscles in her body almost seeming to ripple like liquid underneath the grey fur. Soon she had closed the distance and Keina found herself on her back, Issa's great furry head nuzzling into her stomach, a purr erupting from her body. Keina ran her hand gently over the animal's great furry head. Her fingers dipping into the softness, trying to memorize the texture.

Issa shifted her body to where she was now standing, her face hovering over Keina's. Keina laughed and took in Issa, The feline was staring at her with penetrating violet eyes, her pupils dilated as a purr rumbled in her chest. The giant cat dipped her head closer and scraped her face against Keina, nearly choking the night elf as fur blocked Keina's airways. The night elf sputtered and pushed Issa away, as much as she loved the giant cat, she did not love all the cat hair making its way up her nose. She rubbed the back of her hand furiously over her nose, trying to clear away some of the cat hair, but it just seemed to make the problem worse.

Dalnaar was watching with an amused expression on his face at the pair, it was always amusing watching the two of them. Talon was off to the side watching as well, the gryphon didn't seem bothered by the scene he was witnessing, he instead went to preening the feathers on his wings.

After a few moments of sputtering and attempting to wipe cat hair off of her face, Keina was finally free with Issa purring at her back. "Ready to go when you are," she gasped out to Dalnaar.

The older night elf was trying his hardest not to laugh and somehow managed to remain his usual self. He nodded and turned around, heading back to where they had come from. "We need to saddle Issa and Kai." He shot a glance to Talon. "I assume you'll want to saddle him as well, I've never seen a gryphon used to hold packs before." He shrugged. "It's smart though, he can fly after all so it will be much harder for thieves to steal what's in the packs."

Time seemed to pass slowly as they arrived back at Dalnaar's house and set about the task of saddling the animals and attacking the packs.

Keina had Talon saddled and all the gifts and other things she had bought in Stormwind and in Darnassus attached securely to him. Talon nuzzled his cold beak into Keina's palm, a soft croon slipping from the gryphon. The druid smiled and gave him a quick rub down. She turned her attention to Issa next, it would be much more difficult to saddle the mistsaber. Keina picked up the saddle first and strapped it onto Issa, It was an armored saddle made of the finest metal her people could offer. The saddle had a slope to it so it could work with a saber's predatory walk. The hunched shoulders of a saber made it difficult for most saddles to work. Even with a working saddle it was hard to stay on unless one has years of practice, of which Keina did.

She attached Issa's claw and paw guards next, securely strapping them on. Issa gave an experimental movement of her claws, testing the metal coverings. The metal scraped against the stone and the saber just purred.

Keina shook her head at the actions of Issa but continued strapping armor onto the cat. Face guard, chest guard, and a ton of smaller metal attachments. By the time Keina was done Issa was something to look at with pride. The grey mist saber was covered head to toe in armor. The armor was hard enough to deflect attacks and yet light enough to not hinder the animal in anyway.

Dalnaar came around with Kai in tow, he was ready. It would be time to depart. Issa was strapped with a few smaller bags and Kai had a few more bags than that. Keina grasped the cold metal of the saddle and hefted herself up onto Issa. Issa chose that moment to stretch, her giant mouth opening wide revealing razor sharp fangs and long saber teeth. Her paws reached out before her and she dragged them back, causing the metal coverings on her claws to scrape harshly against the stone creating sparks.

Keina clenched her thighs on the saddle, keeping her balance. She glared at Issa, the saber had the damndest timing. Dalnaar pulled up next to her on Kai, the stormsaber was much better behaved than Issa most of the time, which was fairly surprising to Keina since Kai was...an ill tempered saber.

Talon was waiting for the two at the portal. The two druid urged their mounts forward and they went through the portal, their worlds shifting and for some strange reason a shade of pink encompassed their vision for the few moments they were in between places. The boat to Auberdine was already at it's dock so the two druids plus Talon made their way onto the boat. Issa and Kai were used to portals, rocking boats, and basically everything else.

Keina turned her gaze towards her teacher. "I don't exactly remember the way to Felwood, I might end up leading us to the Barrens."

Dalnaar shrugged. "Then it's a good thing I remember the way, it's not like I haven't been to these places."

Keina grimaced, she kept forgetting that her teacher had been an adventurer himself. It was a hard thing for her to remember since Dalnaar was just so calm and collected. He just didn't seem as if he had been to other places, she would have to sit him down one of these days and ask him about all the places he had been. The ship set off from the harbor towards the island just a few leagues away from Rut'theran, the vessel dipped violently into the sea beneath them and Keina felt Issa's muscles bunch beneath her as the cat dug her claws into the wood. She could hear it as it splintered.

A bone deep weariness settled into Keina, she was growing tired of just going everywhere and not settling down, she shook her head. It was not the time for such thoughts, she should be focusing on the task ahead of her, getting to Ashenvale and making it to Felwood...and then finding a certain troll.

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It's so hard to write these chapters atm, Vojjin keeps wanting to work his way back in ( I do miss him) xD and well I'm addicted to this song at the moment "Just One More Time" it's a soundtrack for this book called Shadowfever ( 3 Love it) and this song is just...well I loves it. xDDD


	15. Felwood

Early update as an apology for not updating last Friday xD

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"Make it stop." Keina groaned as she leaned fully into Issa's saddle, they had finally gotten off the boat and had reached Auberdine, the two had continued into the forest and were no in Ashenvale.

The pair of druids had thought they were going the right way but Keina was staring at the same damn moonkin cave for the fifth time. Dalnaar sighed and looked around as well, he had the urge to dig through his pack and drag out the various maps he had stuck in there, he didn't give into the urge because he knew it would be pointless.

The moment he would draw out the time worn piece of paper his apprentice would dive for it and end up tearing it to pieces. Keina was easily angered and such situations as this.

His apprentice was currently slumped over her saddle, her face buried in Issa's fur, the giant saber just stood there looking bored. Issa's ear swiveled upward and she tilted her head back, violet eyes locking onto to the gryphon flying above them.

A light lit up in Dalnaar's head, the gryphon would be highly useful to see which direction they should go in. Dalnaar dipped his weight to the left signaling his mount to go to Keina. Once he was close enough he nudged his apprentice. She lifted her face from Issa's fur, her usually pale skin was flushed pink with anger, her eyes were flashing silver.

"Yes?" She asked, her voice soft and exhausted.

Dalnaar jerked his head up to Talon. "Hop on your gryphon and look for Felwood."

Keina's expression grew darker but she called Talon to land and hopped off of Issa only to climb onto Talon's back. The gryphon always listened to her. Keina urged Talon back up into the air, her gaze moving over the dark green and purple treetops, she was searching for the divide between Felwood and Ashenvale, it was always quite obvious where Felwood was because the forest life was starting to decay, the fel magics taking over the forest. It was further than she would have liked it, but she spotted the divide. The corruption of nature stuck out like a tauren in Stormwind, much too large to go unnoticed.

The small hairs on the back of her neck rose in alarm as she felt the corruption, she was yards away from the border and yet she felt the corrupt magic slide across her skin like some disgusting slime blob. Keina closed off her awareness to things around her and sighed in relief as the disgusting feeling left her. Talon screeched beneath her, his body moving with the force of his flapping, he turned his head to the side so he could stare back at the female druid.

Keina smiled at the gryphon and gave him a quick scratch on his neck before she urged him back down to the ground. Once they landed she got off of him and got back up on Issa, not eager to keep her feet on the ground for even a moment. Dalnaar looked at her with curiosity.

"It is a few yards up this road here," she said, jerking her head towards the left fork in the road where they were standing. "Dalnaar, how do you not feel that corruption?" she asked, the mere memory of the feeling made her shiver in disgust.

Dalnaar looked at her with the same calm expression he always wore. "It's not that I don't feel it, I let it into my awareness, it's a reminder to me that I must help heal the land."

She nodded, she may be a druid, but she always left the healing to Dalnaar, he was much better at it than her. If she were to try and help mend nature it would sap the strength from her and possibly kill her.

She found that out the hard way.

Her mentor only had to shift his weight slightly forward to set Kai off into a full run, the giant cat gliding over the road just as smoothly as water would. Keina sighed and shifted her weight forward as well, setting Issa off at the same pace. She was in just as much of a hurry as her mentor. She heard Talon screech a sound of surprise but the gryphon quickly caught up to them, he never flew anywhere else than above them.

Keina shifted her weight once more, drawing herself in closer and lower to the saddle, Issa sped up. The movement of her shoulder blades would have made anyone not accustomed to riding a saber fall off. The way to ride a saber was to go with their movements, not the persons own. No reins or anything of the sort were used, the speed and direction was based on shifting of weight and tongue clicks. Tongue clicks were rarely used due to the fact that they weren't as stealthy.

The female druid soon caught up to her mentor, the elder night elf shooting her a proud look before he shifted in the saddle and Kai sped up once more.

Keina looked at her mentor incredulously as the distance increased between them once again, was this some sort of test? She grinned, this was starting to get fun, she shifted once more and Issa sped up. The saber didn't mind this, Issa seemed rather happy at the chance to stretch and actually use her muscles.

Talon was having no trouble keeping up.

With no worries under her belt at the moment Keina sped up with Issa when her mentor sped Kai up. The druids resisted the urge to laugh or throw playful banter, but there was a grin on Keina's face and Dalnaar's lips were quirked up in an almost grin. The two soon passed over the border between Ashenvale and Felwood, and the change was instantaneous. The peaceful dark greens and purple of Ashenvale soon faded into the fading yellow and browns of Felwood. Keina wrinkled her nose in disgust at the corruption that rolled across her skin in waves. She never spent much time in Felwood she helped a clan of furbolgs out once...and that was about it. She stayed away from here as often as possible, this place was an open reminder of the betrayal of Illidan Stormrage.

Years ago there were night elves that thought it would be a good idea to wield fel magic to fight back against the burning legion, it was a good idea...

But fel magic corrupts the user, it's one of the main reason Keina dislikes the blood elves eyes, in the night elf world one who has those green glowing eyes is one who has betrayed their ways and delved into the fel magic. Keina shook her head to clear her thoughts, she zoned out too much. The two druids and their mounts were keeping the same pace, and from the look that Dalnaar was shooting her, Keina knew it was on her shoulders now, she needed to find the people she left in Stranglethorn.

Keina opened her awareness and let her mind skim over the life she felt, squirrels, rabbits, threshers, elk...some sort of demon. Her body gave an involuntary shiver in disgust, she hated demons. She even had a distaste for Lomali's minions, that was why the warlock hadn't summoned them except for that one time she was breaking up the fight on the zeppelin.

On the idea that it might be Lomali's minion, Keina opened her awareness to the demon further trying to grasp the familiar feel of Lomali's magic. There was no thread from the demon to Lomali, this was one who wasn't controlled and would kill the first chance it got. Keina withdrew herself from the demon and let her mind skim over to other places.

There were a few Horde parties scattered about, but none of them were the party she was looking for.

Her mind wandered over a few scared gazelles that were running away from a fight that was taking place nearby. Curious, Keina let her mind wander over to the fight and she connected with a familiar spice of magic. Her awareness settled over Lomali and Ralith, the two were holding off several large infernals while two others were fighting off smaller demons. Being as the two had no magic that she could sense she assumed it was Vojjin and Cogar.

Her heart lifted in her chest, she had found them! She could connect with Vojjin and Cogar if she wished, being as they were alive, but that would be an intrusion into them and would break one of the rules the druids held high. Keina was withdrawing her awareness when it moved over something that chilled her to her very core. It was dead, not forsaken, but it was moving around with life, it reminded her very much of the Lich King's death knights, but what would a death knight be doing all the way out in Felwood? It made no sense. The thing in question pushed back against her awareness, it's chilling touch quickly seeping into her magic. Keina immediately broke the connection and shuddered in her saddle on top of Issa. She didn't want to feel that again.

Dalnaar was looking at her and she knew that her mentor knew something was wrong, but he wouldn't press her, he hardly ever pressed her for information. Keina shook herself and and shift her weight, directing Issa to where she had felt her friends. "They're this way," she called to Dalnaar. Her mentor said nothing but just followed her. Issa leapt over the small crack in the earth that they came across, her claws digging into the ground on the other side, giving her leverage to balance herself and to burst forward with speed. Keina tightened her legs on the side of the saddle, Issa felt her urgency and was running at her fastest speed.

Dalnaar was easily keeping up. As the two druids neared the sound of fighting became clear, the clash of metal upon metal and the almost choking weight of different magic in the air. Issa burst into the clearing and the giant cat threw herself upon the nearest infernal, the snarling saber's weight was enough to knock the infernal off balance and into the infernal next to it, causing them both to crash to the ground. Issa twisted in midair and the saber landed back on her feet a snarling mass of armored saber. Keina could feel Dalnaar already working some sort of spell, she didn't hesitate to direct Issa over to where Vojjin and Cogar were struggling with felguards, the demons were dangerous especially when they turned into a whirling weight of sharp steel. Issa crashed into one of the four felguards surrounding Vojjin and Cogar, she heard Vojjin shout something but Keina pushed it from her mind. She was concentrating on healing small cuts or scrapes that Issa would acquire, Keina was useless against demons so Issa was the best way to attack.

The saber snarled and swiped metal covered claws through the felguard, shredding the demon and causing it to explode in some weird mass of gold dust, soon the other three were overtaken in almost the same way aside for a swipe of an axe and daggers that were buried into their chest. The infernals were soon taken care of by the magic users as well leaving confused Horde and two night elfs seated on their mounts. Keina had forgotten that she had covered her face with a helm a few hours ago. She wouldn't have done it if Dalnaar hadn't been acting like a mother hen and insisting upon it.

Issa swiveled her head around to face the troll rogue that was steadily approaching, she opened her mouth and growled in warning causing him to stop in his tracks. Keina leaned forward and patted Issa's neck, she could feel Issa's breaths even out and the saber soon relaxed her body.

"We had dat handled." Vojjin ground out, he had changed from the armor she had seen him in Stranglethorn to a dark set that looked harder to cut through. She could see smudges of war paint left on his face, and new decorations adorned his tusks.

Keina couldn't help but grin. "Oh I'm sure you did." she said.

Cogar slammed the tip of his war axe into the ground and leaned his weight on it, his eyes widening as he took the night elf and the night saber in. "Keina?" the orc asked. Vojjin's eyes widened as well, but the trol seemed too shocked to say anything.

Keina nodded. "Well, who else would barge in and help a group of Horde?" Her mentor on his mount came from the edge of the clearing where he had stopped to work a spell, he stopped next Issa, the saber nudged Kai in greeting and the other saber nudged back.

Vojjin's eyes narrowed in suspicion at her mentor and she saw his hand grasp the hilt of one of his small throwing daggers.

Keina removed her helm and grimaced as hair fell into her face, whenever she stuck her hair into an helm her hair always seemed to work free from it's bindings. "I told you I didn't need the damn helm." She muttered towards Dalnaar.

The elder night elf narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh? You said you didn't need that extra bag of water when you headed out to Tanaris either," he said "but you did."

She felt her eyes narrow and she twisted around in her saddle to glare at Dalnaar. "Quit being a damn mother hen!"

"Quit needing me to mother you." He calmly said back.

Keina didn't push it any further but turn back around in her saddle and couldn't help the urge to sulk. "Vojjin, Cogar, this is my teacher Dalnaar."

Dalnaar ducked his head in the formal greeting and murmured his thanks for them looking after me.

Vojjin's expression had slid from one of anger to one of amusement. "She did need lookin' after, dat elf could get in trouble anywhere."

Dalnaar nodded in agreement. "Indeed she does."

Ralith and Lomali were now close enough to join the group, Lomali looked at Dalnaar with a thoughtful expression on her face. "That was some spell back there."

Dalnaar shook his head. "It wouldn't have been much use if you two hadn't already weakened them considerably."

Ralith seemed to preen at the praise, he puffed his chest out and smoothed a hand over his long blonde hair, he didn't say anything but he very much liked the praise. Lomali wore the same expression as always and said nothing, she truly was a quiet person.

Talon chose the same moment that Vojjin stepped forward to land. The gryphon screeched at the startled troll, but Talon didn't puff up in alarm at any one of them, in fact he looked curious at the bits of felguard that hadn't disappeared. Keina groaned and quickly hopped off of Issa to yank the gryphon's head back as Talon almost ate a bit of felguard, Keina really didn't want to know what eating demon flesh would do to a gryphon.

"Damn it, Talon!" Keina grunted as she held the animal back with as much strength as she could muster. "Eating bits of demon flesh is nasty! It's bad for you!" Talon seemed to lose interest and instantly gave up on pulling against Keina. The loss of resistance sent Keina off balance and into a pile of felguard pieces. Keina hissed as a few flecks of demon blood hit her skin from the weight of her crashing into a bit of felguard. Her skin steamed and hissed as the blood melted the skin and bone. Keina furiously rubbed at the afflicted area. She was jerked to her feet by Vojjin who grasped her arm and brought it into his view, her cursed under his breath and motioned for her teacher to come over. Dalnaar had wandered off and had been looking at a few herbs he hadn't recognized.

His expression grew worried and then serious as he took the scene in. Dalnaar looked at the wound that was still eating away at itself and sighed. "I leave you alone for one minute...and you get yourself hurt." He cursed in Darnassian and quickly worked a spell to mend the flesh back together and to null the demon blood. He reached into a pack at his side and came up with a salve which he rubbed on the still tender skin and then covered it with a bandage.

"Don't wash it, don't touch it, don't even look at it." Dalnaar said to her and eyed the felguard flesh bits at her feet. He made his way back to the herb he had been investigating while muttering things about sticking her into a giant bubble.

"Ey agree wit' him yah know." Vojjin muttered, his eyes locked on Dalnaar's retreating back. "Yah need ta be stuck in a giant bubble."

Keina huffed, it wasn't her fault that danger just seemed to like her. "So did you find what you were looking for in Stranglethorn?" She questioned, trying to squish her heart back down into her ribcage. She refused to acknowledge that it was hammering against her ribcage just at the sight of him.

Vojjin's amber eyes darkened and he reached down into a pack at his waist and he pulled out a small scrap of blue fabric that seemed that it used to belong to a child's blanket. "Dis is da only ding dat remained at mah sistahs hut."

Keina looked at Vojjin in confusion, she vaguely noticed that the other three members of the Horde had moved off to investigate other things once the scrap of fabric was mentioned. Vojjin's eyes darkened with some emotion that Keina couldn't quite place. "Mah sistah had a small child, some time ago she contacted mah and said dat dey were in danger, so ey left."

"Ey got dere after yah had left, and dey were gone, dere were signs dat dey would be in Felwood, 'nd so far dey are nowhere ta be found." Vojjin's voice was grave by the time he finished, he obviously thought the worse, and he wasn't the only one.

Keina's thoughts quickly darkened. "If I hadn't held you back...you could have possibly found them by now." She muttered, if she hadn't fooled around, he could have found his family by now.

Vojjin's battle roughened hand grasped her chin. "Not yah fault, dey just be good at hidin'"

Keina sighed and nodded, her body relaxing and she try to commit his scent to memory. She really had missed him. Issa roughly headbutted Keina's back and sent the elf flying at the troll. Vojjin was expecting it so it wasn't thrown off his feet, instead he held Keina to his chest. "So dat's yah feline friend?" he questioned, his voice dripping with amusement. Keina shot a glare at the mist saber.

"Yeah," she muttered "That's Issa." She gave into the urge that was nagging at her mind and buried her face into the rough leather of his armor, she inhaled his spicy scent. She was glad Issa had shoved her into him. A small girlish part of her wanted to scream in delight when he tightened his arms around her and buried his face into her hair.

It was a small girlish part of her that she didn't give into, it would be entirely messed up if she did give into it. Keina cleared her throat and quickly regained her composure. "All of us need to talk about the plan from here on out." She grimaced as she picked her way around demon parts. "Damn demons." she muttered.

Vojjin watched her with an amused expression, he shook his head and then lifted his fingers to his lips and whistled. The sharp piercing sound cut through the silence, and the screech of a raptor met their ears as Aenyo came charging into the clearing. Vojjin's wasn't the only mount to come into the field. She spotted Mutton, one of those blood elf birds, and an undead horse.

The next mount surprised her to no end. Malar's kodo made it's way into the clearing, Malar was seated comfortably on top of his Kodo not looking interested in the current affairs.

Keina bit down the yell that made it's way into her throat, happy reunions would have to wait for later. She hopped onto Issa at the same time Vojjin pulled himself up onto Aenyo. Lomali and Ralith pulled themselves onto their mounts as well, Dalnaar was already on Kai and was waiting next to Cogar. Keina looked on the group in amazement, she sure had collected the weirdest group of friends.

Malar looked up from the piece of paper he had been inspecting. "So that's a war saber..."

Keina nodded and gave Issa a pat on the neck. "Yeah, she is."

The shaman dipped his head back down and glanced at the worn paper in his large hands. "We'll head West," he said "There's an abandoned village somewhere in that direction, it's a sensible place to look."

The group agreed and all of them started heading West, Talon was already back in the air and following the group, he didn't seem bothered by the new additions to his flock.

Vojjin pulled up next to Keina, his gaze lingering on the saber beneath the druid. "Glad yah found yah friend," he said, meaning both Dalnaar and Issa. Maybe he meant Asanri as well, but Keina wasn't the best at decoding Vojjin speech.

Keina smiled at him, a tired smile. "You really should have told me about what you were looking for in Stranglethorn, I could have been very helpful."

Vojjin smiled and shook his head. "Mah nose is just as keen as yer nose is." He shifted in his saddle and grimaced as the saddle pinched him. "Trolls are verreh much like animals when et come to da senses."

Well, she thought, that would explain a few things. Keina couldn't help but laugh as the troll cursed from the saddle pinching him again. "I think you need to get that saddle adjusted." She murmured.

Her thoughts wandered back to the chilling presence her awareness had brushed up against, just what was this trip going to hold? Her stomach twisted in knots at all the possible outcomes started flowing through her mind.

She was jolted from her thoughts as Issa jumped to the side to avoid a raptor that had been roughly shoved to the side by warg. Keina was startled at first but the feeling soon left her, it was just Cogar and Vojjin arguing.

It was good to be back.

* * *

I'm growing closer to the ending of this story o-o There's still a lot that has to happen though, so not too close. And I need to sort out my thoughts about the ending. I have three possible endings in my mind at the moment. xD I had it all decided, but...things change ya know? Review!


	16. Fear

Wooo update! Full of crack! :D And mistakes...so many mistakes. xD

* * *

"This is disgusting." Keina muttered to herself as she waded through the green water that made up the rivers of Felwood. She turned and glared at the rest of the group she had recently been reunited with, the water splashing around her legs as she did. "Why the hell am I the one doing this?" She demanded.

Vojjin and Cogar were standing on the banks of the river and staring at her. Cogar looked as if he felt bad for her and Vojjin wasn't trying to hide the smirk on his face at all. Dalnaar, Lomali, Ralith, and Malar had gone off to investigate a nearby abandoned village. Keina really couldn't grasp how they ended up in the groups they were in, and she didn't want to try and figure it out.

She grimaced as something brushed against her leg, she was honestly hoping by this point that it was a bone and not a fish. Any fish in Felwood had teeth...

Last thing Keina wanted to get crippled by was a fish.

The druid muttered curses to herself as she bent down and plucked another neon green mushroom. She quickly covered her face as the fungus spit spores into the air. Was there ever going to be something that was trying not to kill her? She dropped the mushroom into the bag they were throwing them into. She reached up and tightened her mask, it may not stop all the spores from getting to her, but it at least stopped most of them.

"Havin' fun down dere?" Vojjin called from his place on the bank.

Keina resisted the urge to pick up the nearest object and hurl it at him. "Oh yes," she muttered. "This is just so much fun, why don't we do this again sometime." She was overly fond of Sarcasm lately.

The irritated night elf made her way to land and dropped the bag in front of the trolls feet. She frowned at her wet boots and made her way to her pack. She drew out a small rag and began trying to absorb as much water from her boots as she could. She wrinkled her nose at the scent that wafted up from her boots. Her boots now smelled like a dead corpse, they couldn't have smelled worse if she hopped around in the rotting remains of a Fel Reaver. Those huge things stunk like none other when they died. Most of them were made out of metal, but there were living bits thrown in occasionally when some person felt like trying to make it even more deadly. As if a monstrous machine that made the very Earth shake beneath one's feet wasn't deadly enough...

Vojjin didn't even look into the sack as he tied it up and threw it at Cogar. "Good job, elf." He said as Cogar made his way back to their mounts, which they left quite a few feet back.

Keina glared at him through locks of hair that had fallen into her face. "I smell like I was playing with corpses." She hissed out.

Vojjin's lips quirked up in a grin as he crouched in front of her, his body blocking her view of anything else but him. "Well, da scent will go away eventually."

Keina forced herself to smile at him. "Obviously." She had an idea.

Vojjin seemed confused at her sudden change in attitude, he suddenly had the urge to run as Keina pushed her hair out of her face and released it from what was left of its bindings. The long silver hair spilling across her shoulders and down her back made his heart race. Her eyelids drooped until they were only half closed, the silver orbs seemed to be looking into his very soul. Keina placed one hand on the ground before her as she slid her body forward slowly, her hips swaying in a distracting manner. Vojjin didn't think his heart could beat any faster, but it did.

"I...think I'll enjoy this." She murmured as she drew nearer to him, her gaze locked on his lips. She was enjoying how transparent his thoughts were, they were flashing through his eyes, almost as if they were an open book.

Vojjin released a shaky breath, his body didn't seem to want to move. "Oh?" He said, his voice quivering only slightly.

Keina nodded and slid one hand up his chest, instead of exploring the muscles she gave one hard shove and watched in amusement as Vojjin fell into the river. Keina rose to her feet and grinned at the sputtering troll. "Yeah, I enjoyed it." She said, and turned away from him, quickly putting her hair back into a ponytail before swinging her pack up and making her way back to their mounts.

She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped her as she felt his eyes follow her the entire time she walked away from him. She heard him mutter curses under his breath and make a sound of disgust at his newly acquired scent.

By the time Keina had gotten back to their mounts the rest of the group was already waiting for them. Cogar looked at her with interest as she came back without the rogue, before he could ask she decided she'd answer. "Vojjin is...making friends with the fish." She said, a part of her hoping there was fish in that river.

Dalnaar was talking to Malar, the two of them seemed to be discussing something of importance. Her mentor stopped talking and turned his head to stare at her, his face clearly showing that he could smell her.

Keina stopped next to her mentor. "I do hope you have something that will fix my problem?"

Dalnaar's handsome face twisted into a grimace as a stronger scent came into the area. "I think I could have managed to put up with your scent, Keina, but did you have to push the rogue in as well?" He asked. Her mentor was obviously resisting the urge to cover his nose as Vojjin walked into the clearing.

Keina didn't have to look to tell that he was furious, she could feel the anger rolling off of him in waves. Twigs and fallen leaves crunched beneath his feet as he made his way over to Keina.

"Why da hell did yah push mah in?" He demanded, his amber eyes looking like molten metal with the anger rolling around in them. Keina felt Dalnaar tense behind her, as well as her mentor had been doing interacting with the Horde he was still wary of them.

Keina shot a look towards her mentor, Vojjin would never hurt her. "Next time you're picking your own damn mushrooms." She told the troll, she made a face as she pulled the mask off of her face, usually fresh air would be a relief...but in Felwood everything was corrupt. Her lungs constricted in protest at the rush of corrupted air.

She felt Dalnaar relax slightly behind her, her mentor didn't fight very often, most of the time he was healing, but when he did fight he was deadly. Vojjin scowled at her from behind a mop of wet hair, Keina felt the edges of her lips quirk up in a smile but she quickly forced them down.

Dalnaar rummaged through his pack before he came out with a couple of large cherry red blossoms. He handed one to Keina and the other to Vojjin. "Crush the petals on your skin and it should at least...dampen the scent somewhat." Dalnaar instructed before excusing himself to go breathe some slightly better air.

Keina tucked the blossom into her pack, it would have to wait until she bathed otherwise it would be pointless to try and get rid of a smell that seems to have burrowed into her armor. Keina turned her gaze to the rest of the group, they had just coincidentally wandered off all at the same time. Suspicious.

A muttered curse drew her attention to the rogue next to her, for the first time in months Keina actually took his appearance in. Vojjin seemed skinnier than when she first met him, he was still muscled (how could he not be, with the line of work he was in?) his already pale blue skin seemed even more pale. Vojjin stopped messing with his armor and met her gaze. His amber eyes which were once full of mischief, were exhausted. There were black rings under his eyes from lack of rest.

Just what was making the usually sleepoholic troll so restless? Her thoughts came to a halt as she was distracted by smudges of dark paint on his face.

Keina frowned and stepped forward, she lifted a hand and wiped the remaining smudges of war paint off of the trolls face. "Since when do you use war paint..." She murmured while making a face at the oily substance that was now on her hand. Her nose wrinkled as the smell of fish reached her nose, even though they both smelled like walking corpses, fish oil always had a horrid stench.

The rogue sighed and answered her. "I use it alot... especially when in conflicted areas such as dis." As her expression turned into one of confusion he shot her a look, silencing her question. "I would have used it in Stranglethorn, but I was out of paint." The troll shrugged and then grinned. "Yah shouldn't be gettin' all huffy over simple oils when yah are da one with da ink in her face."

Keina pulled a face at him. "I'm telling you, my tattoos are a right of passage. I won't be getting anymore unless the situation calls for it."

Vojjin cocked his head to the side in a almost bird like gesture, no, it was more raptor than birdlike. "And when would da situation call fer tattoos?"

She grimaced, she never liked answering questions that had to do with the druidic arts. "Well...sometimes a spell or a force is too dark for a druid to bear...so we reinforce ourselves with runes. We tattoo the runes onto our skin if needed." Keina quickly held up her hands in defense. "I haven't had to do that, ever, only tattoos I have are the ones on my face." She jerked her head towards Dalnaar. "He doesn't have any tattoos at all." Protection runes, strengthening runes, there were plenty different types of runes floating out there in the world, and tattooing them into the skin does have its advantages. Her people stayed away from tattooing runes into themselves, they associate runes with arcane magic, and for the most part...they are right. The day Keina would tattoo herself would be the day she could truly never go back to her people, but she didn't tell Vojjin any of that, she let him believe that tattooing runes on one's body was a common practice. She turned her attention back to their surroundings. "We need to find somewhere else to set up camp before nightfall, these demon corpses will draw attention." Keina never liked what would show up for a demon corpse, it might end up being a Felhunter, those beasts with their razor sharp fangs, leathery hides, and the tentacles coming from their body that had teeth on the end were not something Keina was willing to go up against.

Felhunters ate magic, they would suck the very essence of magic from their preys body, effectively killing their prey and strengthening themselves. Being as everyone in the group except Cogar and Vojjin could use magic, running into a Felhunter would not be a good thing. She shook herself from her thoughts, walked over to Issa, and pulled herself up into the saddle. The entire time she was ignoring the Vojjin's gaze, the troll was staring intently at her, as if he could tell she was withholding information, the troll could probably smell a lie when he heard one, but she wasn't exactly willing to test that theory.

Instead she urged Issa to stop next to Dalnaar, her mentor was seated on Kai and was scribbling notes down in a journal. His long azure hair had fallen from the high ponytail he had placed it in, with his head ducked down and staring intently at the page as he hastily wrote things, his hair had fallen into his face. Bits and pieces trailed into the drying ink and smudged a few letters or words.

Keina tuned out the rest of them as she sighed at her teacher, muttering things about his lack of awareness she she boosted herself from Issa onto Kai, and settled behind her mentor. "Don't mind me." She murmured as Dalnaar didn't even tense, she wondered if he knew she was even behind him. She released his hair from the small piece of leather he had used to bind it and began running her fingers through it as a makeshift comb. Dalnaar made no movements even as she at to apply force in certain places to get rid of a knot. Once she was satisfied that she had gotten the knots out, she drew his hair back up into the high ponytail he favored. She quickly wrapped the leather around the base of the ponytail and made sure it was secured and wouldn't come out anytime soon.

She glanced over her shoulder when she heard a snicker and saw five pairs of amused eyes staring at her. She pulled a face at them. Silly Horde. She turned her attention back to Dalnaar and peered over his shoulder to see what he was writing.

The minute she did, his journal flipped closed and he turned his head to peer at her. "Ah, still as curious as when you were a child."

Keina resisted the urge to pout. "So you don't move a muscle when I redo your hair for you, but you hide whatever you're writing from me?"

Dalnaar sighed tiredly, but his lips were quirking up in amusement. Keina searched Dalnaar's face for any hints of what he was thinking, but as always, her teacher was impossible to read. She hopped off of Kai and back over to Issa. Dalnaar would probably tell her later about his scribblings, he rarely hid anything from her.

As she was settling back into her saddle and was just about to suggest that they start moving, Dalnaar passed her on Kai, a grin on his face. "It was kind of hard not to notice you Keina, since you smell like a corpse."

Keina squashed down the part of her that want to tackle Dalnaar to the ground and rub herself against him like a cat would when scenting things. She would try to get as much of the corpse like smell on him as she could, but that would be childish.

Acting childishly would be appropriate at later times, but as of the moment they needed to start heading out of this area. Keina's gut was churning with nervousness. "We need to move." She called to the rest of the group, they were all conveniently settled on top of their mounts. Keina was glad to be back among them but it was hard to watch all of them at once. Ralith looked extremely exhausted, he was slumped over his saddle, his face nearly buried in the turquoise sunstrider's feathers. He must have exhausted himself with all the arcane magic he had used, his normally pristine clothing was mussed up, and his normally flawless hair was frizzy and obviously knotted in places. Her gaze swept over the rest of the group, Lomali looked the same as always, she was even reading a book...while being on her dreadsteed.

The warlock had talent, Keina had never been able to accomplish reading while being mounted.

Cogar was happily rearranging the pots that were hooked to muttons saddle, he was extremely happy when Keina had given them to him.

Malar was absently brushing his fur while waiting for the group to get move on, the shaman had patience Keina wished she possessed.

Keina's gaze found Vojjin and the rogue was staring back, he lifted one brow in question, his eyes saying what his mouth didn't have to. _Where ta?_

_ I wouldn't know_, Keina said with her eyes, or at least she hoped the message was playing through them. It was easy to have silent conversations when a persons thoughts get so transparent that the entire face seems like a book. She wondered how he even had an accent in a silent conversation...

Some things need not be answered, she finally decided.

Keina urged Issa forward. "We'll continue on until we find someplace suitable to stay the night in." Her usually playful exterior faded into the back as she actually let her serious self rise. She couldn't take chances with Felwood, the place was corrupt, and even if the original object that had caused the corruption was no longer in forest, the corruption was spreading.

She thought it had to do with the amount of demons in this place, demons did no favor for the Earth, all they did was destroy. Keina kept herself alert, searching for any sign of trouble.

The group urged their mounts forward, they sped them up as Keina sped Issa up. Issa wasn't in a full out run, but Keina didn't want to be walking in this part of the forest. Too much fel magic, too many demons. They stayed in silence for a long time, all them knowing it wasn't wise to talk when trying to sneak through undetected.

Keina's muscles tensed as they neared an abandoned village, there were many abandoned villages throughout Felwood, most of them left empty because demons had ransacked and killed (or eaten) the village people. She heard Cogar exhale in relief and pull Mutton to a stop, the orc hopped off of the warg and started to unload, the rest of the group did the same.

She peered around, the village was made up of decaying wooden houses, moss and the occasional vine were overtaking the buildings. Nature itself was trying to cover up what had happened here, it was reclaiming what it had lost. She didn't like this, her gut was churning in knots. Her gaze fell on the rest, none of them seemed to sense anything, even Dalnaar seemed at ease. Keina shrugged off the feeling as nerves and hopped off of Issa. She unhooked the saddle and set it on the ground, she gave the giant cat a pat on the side before walking over and settling herself on porch that belonged to one of the buildings.

If she had had any other mount with fur then she would have stood there and brushed them, but since Issa was a saber she didn't have to. Keina distracted herself from her thoughts by watching the rest of the group. Vojjin was trying to get Aenyo to stay still long enough so he could take the saddle off, but the raptor just wasn't having it. Aenyo stepped away from the agitated troll every time the rogue came near. The raptor dipped his head, and cocked it to the side in an almost mocking manner. Keina shook her head, did Vojjin get along with anything? Ralith had managed to get the saddle off of his sunstrider, but the blood elf was now slumped over the saddle on the ground, and from the looks of it he had fallen asleep.

Cogar had already unpacked everything and was sitting with his back against his pack, his battle axe stuck into the ground next to him, he seemed to be in a conversation with Lomali, the warlock hadn't bothered to unsaddle her mount, it honestly didn't matter when it came to something that was dead.

Dalnaar had Kai already unsaddled and the older night elf was settled with his back against the saddle and was scribbling away in the journal once more. She frowned to herself, she really wanted to know what he was writing.

_Dead cats,_ she thought to herself.

_Nine lives._ A part of herself answered. That startled her, she was apparently talking to herself now. She shrugged the weirdness off, and then mulled over the fact that she was now using human figures of speech. Ah, she had been out of her forest for far too long it seemed.

She may still be a night elf, but her temperament was nowhere near that of what her race acted like. They kept to themselves and didn't involve anyone else in their business unless it was necessary. She drew her knees up to her chest and settled her head on them. When this is all over she wouldn't be able to go back to her old life.

She was too far gone.

The boards beneath her creaked as Malar settled next to her, the Tauren took care not to

sit on his tail. His hooves dug into the soft earth beneath them. Keina flicked her eyes over to the tauren and raised a brow in question.

"Your brooding," Malar rumbled "I came over to be an ear."

She smiled, the shaman was much too considerate, it would make parting that much

harder. "Oh, I'm just considering my fate." She was used to the awkward wording of his speech.

The tauren shifted and grimaced at the boards creaked beneath him again, Keina wondered if the decaying wood could hold his weight for much longer. Malar snorted and shook his head, "You wonder about things that don't matter," he motioned to a small flower that was next to her foot. "Do you think that flower wonders about what will happen to it in the coming days? No, it leans towards the sun when it is out, and it stretches its roots even deeper into the earth for nutrients."

"That flower has no worries, it lives day by day, it doesn't wonder if it will be stepped on, it doesn't ponder it's fate. All it does is open its petals to the sun and gives pleasure to those who look on it."

She got what he was saying, just let things unfold as they will and only do what comes natural. He really was a wise man. She flopped back, her gaze now locked on the roof that was over the porch, the musty scent of mold reached her nose. "Thanks." She murmured to Malar.

The tauren only nodded his head, and stayed where he was, his gaze locked on the other members of their group. None of them wanted to admit it, but they were exhausted. The journey had been taxing for all them, and the stress from the constant shadow of danger was only getting worse.

"Weren't you from Ashenvale?" Malar asked without turning his head in her direction.

Keina sighed, and adjusted her position slightly. "Yeah, I am."

"So that means you have family just on the other side of this place." He was hinting at something, and she didn't want to know why he suddenly brought up her family.

"Mmhm, but I'm not on the best of terms with them, I told you that night elf communities raise the children together." Though the mother and father...usually held more importance over the rest of the community. She sighed and sat up, and looked at Malar questioningly. "Why suddenly bring them up?"

Malar turned his head and caught her gaze, silver met black. "I was just curious." She resisted the urge to growl, she knew he was up to something. She abruptly stood up and started her way towards the woods. "I'm going for a run!" She called back to the group as she felt a few questioning stares on her.

She wasn't even halfway to the forest edge before she let the change take place. Her muscles tensed, bones popped and cracked as they began to rearrange themselves, her teeth sharpened in her mouth and her fingers tapered into claws. Fur began to sprout in patches and soon there was the sweet snap of the spine as the change finished.

Usually she sped the process up when she was changing forms, but today she wanted to feel the sweet pain of it. She stretched her cat body and dug sharp claws into the earth. She opened her mouth part way and inhaled the scents.

Animals, demons...her tail flicked in agitation when the sharp scent of urine hit her nose. She moved into the forest and looked on with interest with all the new things she was seeing in this form. Things were much sharper when she was in her cat form, she had really good eyesight as a night elf...but only at night.

Before she had adjusted to walking and working in the daylight it was like staring directly into the sun...just without staring directly at it. It was blinding. She was honestly surprised she didn't get killed in those days.

Dying leaves and twigs crunched beneath her paws as she walked on, she halted in mid step when a scent that made her mouth water hit her nose.

Deer.

She turned and changed her direction, following the scent. As she neared closer to it she dropped lower to the ground and crept closer. Her eyes found the deer walking among the dying grass and eating what it could find.

It was a buck, and from the size of the horns it was a very old buck. Keina quickly looked over the rest of the buck searching for any signs of disease or decay. She found none. The bucks hide was as smooth and untouched as the deer in Ashenvale.

She crept forward slowly and made sure to balance her weight on her paws, that way she wouldn't make a sound and scare her prey off. The buck yanked at a stubborn piece of a plant that she couldn't identify before chewing slowly and moving onto the next plant. It moved around like that for sometime until its side was presented to her.

That's when she pounced.

She leapt forward and flung herself onto the deer, claws digging into the hide and mouth closing around the deer's throat. In her original form she would have made it a fast and clean kill without hesitation, but in her cat form the urge to prolong its suffering was always there. Keina shoved down her beastial thoughts and quickly yanked the bucks head in the other direction until she heard a snap.

The worst thing about changing into her animal forms was that the beast was always there. The instincts, the bloodlust...

She started to move back to the village, dragging the deer with her, its neck still clamped between her fangs. She froze as a sound that shouldn't have been anywhere in Felwood reached her ears.

The soft crying of a child.

Keina mentally sighed and turned once again and dragged the deer with her as she headed towards the sound. She wasn't about to leave her kill for any reason, so it was coming with her, even if she couldn't be stealthy with it.

She found the child tucked into the nearly hollow trunk of a tree, this child was definitely not the child Vojjin was looking for. The child didn't even notice she was standing there so she took the time to look. The child was a small night elven boy, his scrawny legs were drawn up to his chest, long unwashed and tangled moss green hair hung over his face and to his shoulders, long purple ears poke up through the mess up hair, and the child was quivering, muffled sobs escaping him.

Keina dropped the deer and the dead animal hit the ground with a thud, the child jolted and his head snapped up, scared amber eyes looking at her. The boy back himself further into the hollow trunk, but the bark was at his back much sooner than he had thought it would be, she could tell by the startled look on his face. She stepped forward and ducked into the tree, she would be too big to fit in here in her original form.

The boy whimpered as she drew closer, Keina ignored the small whimper and butted her head against the boys side and began rubbing against him like a house cat would. The child's shaking soon stopped and the boy hesitantly began running his fingers through her fur. When she was sure the boy was calmer than before she took the edge of his tattered shirt between her teeth and pulled softly, a sign for him to follow her.

The boy followed her out, his shaking started up again as scared eyes darted around the forest, he flinched at every sound.

Keina rubbed up against him once more before she shifted back to her original form, she saw the alarm on the boys face as her bones cracked and rearranged themselves. She winced once she was back to her original form, that change hurt more than usual.

The boy looked up at her with shocked eyes, his hands were fisted in the tattered remains of his pants. Keina squatted in front of him. "It's okay, I won't hurt you." She said in Darnassian.

The boy only nodded, a quick movement of his head. His back was still stiff and his hands still fisted at his sides.

This was going to be harder than she thought. "What's your name?" She asked, still speaking in Darnassian.

"Elrior." He said softly, his eyes locked on her face.

Keina smiled. "I'm Keina, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said and then grinned, holding out her hand towards the child. She was going to take him with her, she couldn't leave a child out here all alone, no matter how much she usually couldn't stand children.

Instead of accepting her hand the child threw himself into her arms and sobs racked his body, his hands fisted into her leather armor. Just how long had this child been out here? And how the hell had he managed to survive and Felwood? Those were questions that she wanted answers to.

Keina was surprised but awkwardly tried to comfort the kid, she really wasn't good at this. She couldn't help but grin though when she thought of Vojjin's reaction when she got back.

* * *

Uhm. Idk. This wasn't in my original plans o-o but it kinda sorta happened... .


	17. Confusion

Urgh, I haven't updated in forever, forgive me! *is bricked*

I had this sitting in my documents for like...forever. And I got a new tablet . Which I can surprisingly update from o-o

Oh oh oh, desirae668 made me remember that I had this xD Yes, it's shorter than normal, but it's an update. :D So no more flipping tables over in rage yeah? xD

Gaaah, *is still being bricked* anywho, read on!

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"Put it back." Vojjin grumbled as he stared at the child Keina had brought back.

Elrior had shrank back behind her when his eyes first found the huge troll, she could feel the boy shaking as he fisted his hands into the first thing he could grab that was on her.

Keina raised her shoulders and her head in defiance. "Oh? Why don't you make me." She challenged. She was in the mood for a fight, she honestly hadn't had a good fight in a long time, demons didn't count.

Vojjin rolled his shoulders back and stood up to his full height, his amber eyes narrowed angrily and he glanced from the child to her a few times before responding. "What did yah not undahstand?" He ground out.

Keina shrugged. "All of it? Your accent can get a bit heavy at times." She said. Keina was enjoying this, she shifted her weight slightly and she ran her tongue over teeth that were quickly sharpening. She almost laughed with glee when Vojjin's hand tightened into a fist and he had to literally jerk his hand away from the dagger at his side.

"Yah don't know what yah're gettin' yerself inta, elf." Vojjin spat out, his was trying to find something else to do with his hands instead of give in to the fight. He shifted and folded his arms against his chest, and scowled at her, amber eyes glowing like molten metal.

Keina blocked out everything else but the angry troll standing in front of her, she didn't know why, but a part of her desperately needed this fight. Needed proof that she wasn't too far gone. Suddenly Dalnaar was there, talking to the child in Darnassian, her mentor managed to coax the kid to let go of her. After one glance at her face, Dalnaar took Elrior over to where the rest of the group was watching in silence.

Good.

No more distractions.

"I know exactly what I'm getting myself into," She said, her voice coming out in a rush of air as her muscles tensed with the first stages of the change. She wouldn't shift all the way, just enough to put some extra muscle on. "Besides, why should you care?"

She didn't think it was possible for Vojjin to scowl anymore than he already was, but he proved her wrong when his face further distorted with rage. Even when he was furious...he was handsome. She squashed the last thought down, this is exactly why she needed the fight, these feelings were messing with her.

"Yah're afraid ta lose control," Vojjin said softly, the fact that he was speaking softly should have sent a shiver of fear down her spine, instead she grinned. It was more of baring her teeth than grinning. Vojjin sprang forward and she met him move for move, when one would strike the other would dodge. Keina flipped away from him and slid back in the dirt, she dug her toes into to earth beneath her to slow her slide.

"I haven't lost control-"

"Da hell yah haven't-"

"I just don't know-"

"Yah seem more animal d'an woman!" He spat.

"What I'm doing..." She finished.

The time for words had passed, and any conversation they had was conveyed through punches, kicks, or through the eyes.

Keina nearly snarled as she leapt at him, Vojjin grabbed her by her waist and basically threw her to the ground, before he could complete the throw she grabbed one of his wrists with both hands and used the leverage to swing herself around and land a kick in his ribs. From the way the breath hissed out from between his teeth and the fact that she heard a crack, she knew she had fractured a few of his ribs.

But she didn't care, her vision was growing increasingly hazy by the second, she heard her bones pop as the change progressed. Her mind grew confused, she hadn't progressed the change. She had only started the first stage of it to put on some extra muscle, she usually wouldn't have needed to do that...but her opponent was Vojjin.

During her confused thought process Vojjin had taken the chance to throw her to the ground as he originally intended. The air whooshed out of her lungs at the force of impact. Vojjin pinned both her wrists above her head, his legs were on either side of her waist.

"Are yah done now?" He demanded, his breath coming out in harsh pants.

Her vision cleared and he came back into focus, his amber eyes searching her face frantically. His body visibly relaxed as he met her eyes. Keina harshly bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from saying anything, to stop the quivering that she knew would be in her body once she dropped her guard. Something was changing in her, and she didn't want to know what it was.

For the first time in a long time, she was scared. The bitter taste of fear was heavy in her mouth, she swallowed, her throat was too dry. "I'm fine Vojjin," she weakly said "Let me up." The troll looked at her in disbelief but moved back, released her wrists, and let her up from the ground.

"D'ere's somed'in' wrong wit' yah, elf." He murmured watching her as she drew her knees up to her chest. She wasn't quite ready to try standing yet.

"I know..." She said softly,she laid her head on her knees and continued speaking. "Just...tell the rest of the group that it's our usual bickering." She didn't want to think of the possible reasons for what was happening to her, maybe it would just go away, maybe it was just a phase that lasted a few days like the monthly bleeding. Keina forced herself to her feet and put on a fake smile. "Well then, I'll just go over there and sleep, yeah?" She stated and did exactly as she said, she curled up next to Issa and buried her face into Issa's fur, sleep quickly taking her.

When morning came the group reluctantly got up, complained about not having beds, and packed up to get a move on. They kept moving and stopping to look for Vojjin's kin and each abandoned village that happened across, this went on for about three hours and now Keina was shifting in Issa's saddle, she couldn't find a comfortable spot.

She grimaced and shifted again, she refused to stop just now, the area they were in didn't even look safe. She was entirely sure that the bubbling green water a few feet to their right would burn someone's limb off.

Vojjin slowed Aenyo down to where the raptor was now walking next to Issa. The troll shot her a weird look. "What da hell is wrong wit' yah?"

Keina shot him a glare and shifted once more, she was under the impression that if she found the perfect spot then she wouldn't have to pee anymore. "None of your business." She ground out. In her mind she was cursing her kidneys, she hadn't even had that much to drink!

The troll continued stare at her in confusion but finally gave up on figuring the night elf out. He urged Aenyo to pull to the front of the group leaving her to her thoughts. Keina worried her lower lip between her teeth trying to push her bodily urges away, in a sad attempt at distracting herself she began to think about what would happen when this was all over. The group would go their own way, Keina knew she wouldn't be welcomed back in Darnassus, she would be considered a traitor to her people.

To the Alliance.

Maybe she would join the druids that were in the Moonglade, they were neutral, they would not judge her choice of helping Horde because they were made up of both factions. Her eyes wandered over to Vojjin, his broad shoulders seeming broader than before. No, she thought, that wasn't it. He held himself differently, he wasn't constantly on edge, he was relaxed. He no longer expected to find an Alliance dagger buried in his back.

Keina felt something within her crack at the idea of parting with the rogue.

She couldn't have feelings for him, she wouldn't let herself.

In the end it would end in nothing but heartbreak.

* * *

Short update is short. x.x


	18. Goop

It seems as if it's impossible for me to write anything long as of late...i've been reading so many drabbles that everything I write comes out drabble sized. Thank you for all the lovely review! This story is starting to reach its end. There will be a sequel. Just an er...warning of sorts lol. Ugh...imma crawl off and find some painkillers. Enoy my short depressing installment xD

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"Keina," Dalnaar drawled from his place with the rest of the group, "shoving someones head into potentially dangerous goo is not nice."

Keina had decided it would be a fine idea to shove Vojjin's head into the angry gelatinous goop before them after the troll had made a snide comment about her current lack of sanity.

Sanity?

As if she had it, who exactly was sane after years of escaping death?

Keina pulled herself from her thoughts as she took in her current masterpiece, Vojjin was still stuck in the goop, his body twisting and his hands grasping as he tried to free himself. Her head tilted to the side and she slid into a crouch, silver met amber as the troll glared at her.

Maybe she should help him...nah, he was a big boy, he could take care of himself.

She turned away from the work of art and hopped onto Issa, "I'll scout ahead, catch up to me when he manages to get free!" and with that said she shifted her weight forward and Issa took off at a fast pace. The sabers paws made no sound as she glided over the corrupted earth, occasionally she would flush out a few lesser demons who would fall prey to her mighty metal covered claws. Keina was glad to have a companion like Issa. The female druid wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings, her mind was once again fixed on the impossibility of her situation, just how often did the Alliance help the Horde out?

How often did a night elf help a troll?

The two races had been around for about the same time, the night elves just had much longer lives than trolls.

She needed to distance herself from him before this got any worse, she didn't want to possibly end up in something forbidden with him to just watch him die before her eyes. She didn't want to see that strong proud troll grow old with the years that passed while she stayed untouched by the hands of time. This was why thenight elves didn't mingle with the other races, most of their lifespans were far too short. Keina shook her head, her fingers sinking into the misty grey fur that she had bèen grasping. She needed to quit thinking of what miht happen and instead focus on what was happening. Once Vojin found his family Keina would depart for Northrend, she would need a distraction, and what better distractions than fighting hoards of undead, running from angry animals, and fighting claw to claw with a dragon?

Yep, it was definitely something that sounded like a lot of fun. She scowled to herself, she really needed to quit using so much sarcasm. Keina was drawn from her thoughts as Issa began to slow, her light grey ears flattened against her skull and a low growl rumbled in her chest. Keina tightened her grip on the saddle and tried to pick up on what Issa was reacting to.

Keina came up with nothing.

What the hell was going on?

Issa suddenly propelled herself forward, using the momentum to turn around and speed back the way they came. Keina wanted to know what had spooked the saber but she trusted Issa's judgement. The druid may have not sensed anythin, but she was sure it had to do with that icy presence she had been sensing throughout the journey so far.

Issa had managed to make it back about halfway before a familiar orange raptor cut them off. Vojjin's familiar scowl met Keina's gaze when she was brave enough to look at him. Her traitorous heart began an uneven fast beat just at the sight of him. Keina forced herself to grin at him, "I see you managed to escape the goop."

At the mention of the green gelatinous goop that been encasing his head for the last while his scowl managed to get worse. "Yah need ta stop shovin' mah head in evert'ng dat moves!" he muttered darkly.

She forced herself to shrug, her expression one of innocence. "It's a muscle reflex, I can't help myself." A deep ache settled within her as Vojjin reacted in his usual way and the two continued their usual banter of insults as they headed back to the slower members of their dysfunctional group. It hurt to continue as if nothing were wrong, as if nothing was wrong with her, as if she wasn't a traitir to her people, to her faction.

She could deal with the pain until this quest met its end. For now she would be greedy and take up as much of his time as possible. Any relationship between the two of them woukd be impossible, he would be nothing but a bittersweet memory soon enough. He would fade to the background like every other race that didn't share an elfs lifespan. It was at times like this when she wasn't happy with what she was born as.

So it was okay if she was greedy, right? If she stayed within his light, drank in his visage, laughed and talked with him. Could her avarice be considered too much or too less if that was all she would take? If that was all she could hope for...

She could only hope that this single wall that she built up between herself and her true desires wouldn't crumble. If it ever did...she would break.

No, she thought as she laughed at an insult he threw her way, this was all she would ever ask for.

It was all she was capable of asking for if she wanted to remain Keina Dawningstar, druid of the claw, apprentice to Dalnaar, warrior of the Nightelves, and a loyal member of the Alliance.

She could not become Keina Dawningstar, betrayer of the Alliance.


	19. Chased

Woah, it's been fforever hasn't it xD well I was like half asleep when writing this...so it's missing my usual cracktastic humor, annnnd well yeah. Don't murder me!

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"Go away," Keina grumbled as she swatted away the offending appendage that was currently trying drag her away from the bliss of sleep. The group had made little headway the previous day, they had stumbled upon a stretch of land that had looked as if nothing but death had touched the soil. The place smelled worse than the time Keina had pushed Vojjin into that horrendous bubbling green water.

And that was saying something.

It was at that sight that Dalnaar had proposed splitting up, he offered to take the child to a neutral fortress while the rest would continue on looking for Vojjin's sister. The troll had of course bristled at the idea and had demanded that Malar, Cogar, and a certain useless blood elf go with the elder druid to make sure he wasn't going to turn them in.

Which was all hot air, Keina supposed the troll was truly worried about their safety, and with the group being made smaller they would he able to move faster.

So now it was just a rogue, a druid, and a warlock.

And a certain warlocks bony hand was invading her bubble of bliss.

Keina smacked the appendage away once more and heard Lomali sigh in response. The druid grinned at her victory and snuggled deeper into the warmth of her wool blanket. She didnt even care that a twig was digging into her side, well, it was either a twig or a rather large bug.

She was hoping for a twig, even if it was impossible for twigs to have eight fuzzy legs...

Yep, it was going to be a twig even if it was living. She refused to acknowledge it otherwise. Sleep was something she loved, especially when the sun was something she instinctively disliked. A soft sigh met her ears and the only means of warmth she had was ripped from her. Keina shot up and leapt after the retreating blanket only to run nose-first into hard plate armor. She peered up and glared at Lomali's demon spawn. The damned fel guard at stolen her blanket.

Keina turned herngaze to the amused warlock. "I have at least another hour of sleep left before the troll slinks back into camp," she wrinkled her nose in disgust at the fast rising sun, "can I please have that itchy excuse of a blanket back? I'm even putting up with this damned spider so that I could sleep!" She pointed at the unwanted visitor on her shirt. All she really wanted to do at this point was to escape reality.

The warlock shook her head. "You can sleep later, right now we need to have a talk."

Keina shifted into a more comfortable position, ignoring the snapping and crunching of twigs and leaves as she did. "What is it you want to talk about?" she asked, even though she knew exactly what the undead female was working up to. The warlock was far to insightful to Keina's liking.

Lomali settled herself down at the base of a rotting tree, her navy blue robes seeming to ripple like water as she did. "Lately you've been acting strange, what have you been sensing that the rest of us haven't? " she questioned, her voice was soft and smooth and it still managed to surprise Keina.

The druid sighed, she knew this had been coming, she had really hoped it had all been her paranoia. "Lately there's been this icy prescence, I've sensed it off and on for awhile now and it unsettles me." She shook her head in an attempt to clear it as the cold bite of fear began to creep on her. Now wasn't the time to be scared of a memory.

The warlock's face twisted in confusion, her golden eyes seeming quite troubled. "I'll attempt to sense this thing myself, if the rest of us haven't sensed it, then it's deliberately revealing itself to you. Now onto the question of your druidic abilities, what's happening?"

Keina nearly groaned in frustration at the way the warlock was phrasing things, the druid herself could be considered old but even she didn't phrase things like that! She drew her lower lip in between her teeth as she pondered over Lomali's question. "Well...it seems I've lost my control over my heast, well not quite lost it, but it's slipping. I think the recent turn of events has set me off balance and so I've lost my grip on things," she waved off Lomali's look of concern. "I'm fine now, really." She smiled to prove her point. Now that the talking was over and done with she needed to get back to sleep hefore Lomali touched on a subject desperately didn't want to discuss.

She eyes the silent warlock for a few moments before thrusting her out in front ofmher and demanded the return of her itchy blanket. She even offered to give her unwanted guest to Lomali as a pet. After some amount of shuffling Keina got her itchy blanket back and Lomali got the rather large spider as a pet. It was rather disturbing to watch the warlock coo and pet the orange and black spider. Keina settled back down on the cold hard corrupted ground and curled back into the blanket ignoring Issa's questioning judge and Talon's worried squawk.

Five words ruined her escape from reality. Five words that made up a simple question.

"You love him, don't you?" Lomali questioned.

If Keina had been paying attention she would have heard the sharp intake of breath from the still prsent shadows. She sighed and only nodded her head, finally admitting the truth to someone other than herself, she couldn't say it aloud, she just couldn't. Lomali said nothing ajd Keina was jolted from her daze as a deer landed infront of them.

"Skin it, use wat yah can 'nd save wat yah can't." Vojjin grumbled as he strolled into camp. Keina huffed and made a face at him, even if he had been present to hear Lomali's question there was no way he had seen her answer, and she wanted to keep it that way.

About a hour later they were on the move again, Talon had been flying above them with several new packs strapped on him, and Keina was urging Issa into a run so she could catch up with Vojjin and Lomali, she had lost them earlier when her head had been in the clouds. She gritted her teeth and leaned into the saddle, her stomach was twisting itself into knots as an overwhelming prescence seemed to close in on her.

The sound of hooves met her ears and Keina swore under her breath, this was not her day! Hell, who she kidding, this hadn't been her month. Issa let out a low growl as a small piece of jagged ice whizzed past Keina's ear. Keina barely managed to dodgenthe damn piece of ice and resisted the urge to turn in the saddle to try and see who was chasing her. If they were using ice to attack then they had to be an ice mage.

She really, really hated mages that chose ice as their element. At least Ralith stayed in the arcane arts...

Issa veered to the right to avoid a rather large throwing axe. Keina thanked the Goddess for the agility of war sabers and decided that her pursuer was not a frost mage.

Mages didn't mess with axes.

She breathed out to calm herself and focused on escaping. Keina didn't cast, so she was currently useless. She hated feeling useless.

The thunder of hooves grew closer and Keina was thrown off of Issa as the saber toppled over, Issa hadn't been able to dodge the chains that were now binding her legs together. Keina shot to her feet and darted over to Issa, she could at least free her mount in the short time she had.

Keina never made it to Issa.

A large hand grasped Keina's neck and lifted her off of the ground. Her hands grabbed at the one wrapped around her neck, choking off her air supply. Issa's cry of distress and angry snarl met the druids ears as she kicked and struggled against her captor. Keina was a seasoned adventurer, escaping something like this shouldn't have been hard, but his grip was like steel! Her fingers kept slipping off of smooth metal, never seeming to find purchase. She was panicking, she couldn't think. She couldn't breathe.

Keina's vision started to waver and blacken as the lack of oxygen started to take hold. Her body grew limp and she couldn't help but think of how pathetic she was.

No!

Keina's struggle doubled in strength as she curled her body back and kicked back with a boot clad foot to gain leverage as she yanked away from the man. She gasped and sucked in desperately needed air as she rolled to her feet and finally got a look at the man.

It was a death knight.

A troll one at that.

Oh Elune, she was cursed with trolls, wasn't she?


	20. Caught

Everything I post is so short o.o oh well...at least it's an update. Two updates in one day xD yaaaaay. *is shot* this chappy be crappy v.v

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Keina had no idea what she had done to bring such a curse as this upon herself. It seemed that she was running into trolls left and right, not regular cannibalistic trolls that lived apart from the more civilized tribes. No, she was running into Darkspear trolls. Deadly, well trained trolls that gave their allegiance to the Warchief Thrall. She wouldn't have minded running into them if every encounter didn't include Keina abuse.

They really seemed to like abusing her.

Keina warily eyed the undead male troll in front of her. He wasn't wearing a helm and he bore a striking resemblance to Vojjin. Though Vojjin's face was softer around the edges and obviously more...alive. Keina attempted to ignore the fact that the death knight was reaching behind him to draw the rather impressive broad sword from its makeshift sheath. It honestly looked like he had found some randok chains and had decided that they would make a wonderful item to hold his weapon.

Keina went back to comparing the undead troll with Vojjin. They were about the same in height, though Vojjin's shoulders were broader. The death knight had black hair that hung to his shoulders in clumps, personal hygiene was obviously frowned upon once one became undead. She didn't even bother glancing at the trolls tusks, they were nowhere near as impressive as Vojjin's.

She had a tusk fetish didn't she...

Keina pushed the new discovery about herself as Issa let out a low, angry, hiss. The sound from her faithful friend brought her attention back to the matter at hand. She couldn't afford to play with this troll, her already bruising neck told her that much. Keina allowed the first few stages of the change to take her, just enough to put on some extra muscle and raise her awareness of her surroundings. Her senses as a night elf may be heightened, but they were even better when she was in cat form, so only partially changing helped a lot.

She put more distance between herself and the troll, she needed to free Issa and get away from there. This troll was the very same icy presence she had been sensing all those times, which meant the bastard had been following the group since Stranglethorn. She drew in a shaky breath to try and steady herself.

She needed answers.

"What do you want?" she asked, she had never been one to play twenty questions so she was cutting straight to the important questions.

The death knight tightened his grip on the broad sword. "I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you, you're bait." his voice was deep, very deep and was missing that troll accent she loved so much. How the hell did this undead troll not have the accent?

She mentally shook herself, now was not the time.

What did he mean by bait? Just who was he trying to lure out, and from his uncanny resemblance to a certain troll she wasn't going to find out. Keina darted to the left and let go of her partial change into cat form. She needed a more durable form, something with more strength than speed.

With a loud snap of breaking and reforming bones she was a mighty bear. She tensed her muscles before roaring her defiance, lips peeled back ina snarl. Her fangs might not have been as deadly in this form, but her bite force was much stronger than in her cat form.

The troll shifted his weigjt to steady himself before snorting softly. "Not going to come easily?" he questioned.

Her answer was obvious.

He relaxed his posture before resheathing his weapon. "Then tell Vojjin that Galjin has come." with that he turned on his heel and was soon out of sight.

Keina felt frozen, she was so confused and shocked that she quickly retreated to her natural state. She had so many questions. She shook herself and leapt toward Issa, quickly freeing the saber from the chains. Issa pressed her nose into Keina's side, attempting to calm the night elf.

She smiled and ran a shaking hand through Issa's mist grey fur. Now wasn't the time to ponder or to be afraid, she had to catch up with the rest of the group. In a few minutes she back in Issa's saddle and the two were racing full speed back the way Vojjin and Lomali had been head.

Keina's body was still shaking slightly, why hadn't she attack the death knight when she had the chance?

And just what the hell was his relation to Vojjin?


	21. Galjin

This chapter is pitiful xD I was stuck, so it's boring...and horrible, and I needed to get this out. Next chap will be better I promise lol

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Keina grasped the leather edges of the saddle beneath her in an attempt to still her shaking body. Fear had dug its talons deep within her and was refusing to let go. It had been a long time since she had been this unsettled by anyone. Everything about that death knight screamed danger, just thinking about him increased the chill of fear that had settled within her.

The druid loosened her grip on the saddle and shifted her weight forward. Issa felt the change and sped up, her claws ripping through anything standing in her way. Keina buried her hands in Issa's soft grey fur, she was grateful that she had Issa, the saber was considered her closest friend. When her world would fall apart at least she would have Issa. Her hands clenched and she gritted her teeth while throwing all thoughts from her mind.

The corrupted land that made up Felwood was her problem now, her eyes narrowed in on a dirt path. She could barely make it out, the area around the path was just as worn and corrupt. It made things confusing. She she shifted her weight to the left and Issa turned sharply, her paws finding the path. The only sounds registering in her mind was the fast beat of her heart and the utter silence that surrounded her.

There were no birds, not even the soft snorts of deer.

A pang of longing shot through her.

She missed the forest, she missed the thriving wild life...she missed far too much to name.

A low purr errupted from Issa as she rounded the sharp curve of the path. The familiar growl of Vojjin's voice filled Keina's ears.

She wondered how the mere sound of his voice could cause the tension to leave her body, the worries leave her mind. For so long she had traveled and she had never encountered a feeling like this. It frightened her. Her gaze locked on the rogue as she neared, she couldn't seem to stop looking at him. What was this...? She had experienced brushes with death before, it was common when one chose to be an adventurer.

But why did she get this sense of foreboding as she drank in the visage that was Vojjin?

How could she feel relieved yet fearful when gazing at him?

No, she decided as Vojjin ceased talking to Lomali and turned toward the approaching druid, this made no sense at all. Vojjin's amber eyes widened in surprise and then darkened in anger. "Where da hell 'av yah been?" he demanded, his voice rough with rage.

Her lips quirked up in a smile. So he had worried about her. She hopped off of Issa and didn't even bother to walk towards him, he had already closed the distance between them. She tilted her head back so she could look him in the eye. "Who's Galjin?"

As impossible as it seemed, Vojjin's body tensed up even more. She was amazed at the reaction over a simple name, so he definitely knew the death knight.

Keina barely managed to leap away from the rogue as he made an angry grab for her, air hissing from between his clenched teeth in a snarl.

"Where did yah learn dat name?" Vojjin ground out.

Oh, there wss definitely some history between the two. She dodged him once more before sliding her gaze across his form to meet his still darkening eyes. "I was pursued by a death knight, he asked me to pass a message onto you." She was surprised that her voice stayed so calm while her hands started to shake just at the memory of the encounter. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides, hoping to still the shaking.

She didn't want them to know of her fear.

Lomali who had been silent the entire time stood up from where she had been resting and turned her cool gaze onto the still form of the rogue. "I'm curious as well, who is this death knight?" She asked.

Vojjin let out a loud sigh and slid into a crouch. "Galjin be mah brother, he died a long time ago." His brow furrowed as his mouth dipped into a scowl. "So he be an undead bastard now? Dis isn't good."

Keina could still feel the fury rolling off of the rogue in waves. "It doesn't sound like the two of you had a good relationship before he died." she murmured.

Vojjin grunted and stood up again, he turned away from her and headed over to Aenyo to adjust the straps on the saddle. "It has nothin' ta do wit yah."

Keina scoffed. "Nothing to do with me? The bastard could have killed me! He obviously let me go, he knew there was no way I could have handled him!" Her voice began to rise along with her anger. She shook her head furiously. "Who knows how long he's been watching us, he _let _me sense him. For the majority of our time together he was that chilling presence that I had been sensing, I just thought I was being paranoid." Her voice began to shake as the fear began to dig its claws back into her. "I don't like this feeling..."

She clenched her teeth together and shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. What was she doing letting it all out like this? She was acting like a young blood. Her gaze went back to Vojjin and then to Lomali. Vojjin was standing in front of Aenyo, his eyes widened in shock, where as Lomali was just as calm as ever.

Keina forced her lips to quirk up into a smile. "Ah, forgive the outburst," she turned away from them and settled herself down on the ground, her eyes jerked back to the troll as he began to once again mess with Aenyo's saddle. "You will answer my question, Vojjin." She stated, her voice dangerously soft.

The rogue quickly recovered from his shock and he narrowed his eyes at her. "He was a traitor, it be dat simple, ya said he had a message?" He was obviously hiding something.

"He said that he had come for you." she muttered before turning away from him. "I'll be back later, I just need to clear , my head." Her bones popped as she slipped into her cat form, she didn't even give her companions a chance to answer as she was again slipping into the forests of Felwood. She didn't like being afraid, she wasn't used to being the hunted, and she didn't like her outburst from earlier. She wss losing her grasp on herself. She had agreed to help the troll out of simple curiosity, but now it seemed they were all wading into the depths of something big.

Her paws flew over the rough decaying ground as she pushed herself faster and faster, she needed to find her balance or she was going to fall off of the invisible tightrope she seemed to be flailing on. She didn't wantmto know what awaited her beneath the tightrope, it certainly wouldn't be Vojjin. She highly doubted the troll would return her feelings.

She needed to get away.

Away from him, away from them all.

By the Goddess, she was a night elf, a member of the Alliance.

She began to slow as forest began to thin out, she tilted her head and looked around at her surroundings, just how far had she run? A twig gave way beneath her paw as she stepped forward. She was curious as to what was ahead, she could smell meat. Her stomach gave a small growl as the scent worked its way through her.

She was hungry.

Keina shook herself and retreated back the way she came, that meat was cooked, which meant there was a camp ahead, the last thing she needed was to get caught by some bandits, or anything really. She finally calmed down, the earlier events having left her mind, she decided she'd bitch at Vojjin when she got back. Demand he make her food, or at least find her food. Since he really was the cause of all her stress.

After what seemed a long time she had made it back to where she had left Vojjin and Lomali, her ears perked at the familiar soft murmur of Dalnaar's voice.

They were back!

She switched back into her natural form and walked intk the encampment with a grin, instead of answering grins she was welcomed with a heavy atmosphere full of dread. Dalnaar stared at her with golden eyes full of worry. "We've been marked as traitors Keina, all of us." he said.

Her stomach twisted into knots and her eyes widened in shock. What?

If she had been marked as a traitor, she couldn't go back. She couldn't mgo home...

She'd never see her forest again.

The tightrope that Keina had been balancing on snapped as the face of mentor blurred before her, she wondered why the scenery was suddenly spinning but figured the answer wasn't important as darkness claimed her.

There really was no going back now.


End file.
